School Daze-DFA 14
by Dyna Dee
Summary: Story 5. The Gift. This is the last of the School Daze stories. Heero's new mission goes beyond the perimeters of his training. He askes Duo and Quatre to assist him as back up to insure its success.
1. Default Chapter

Author's note: Thanks to all of you read and review, I appreciate your comments and encouragement. School Daze will contain several stories regarding the pilots in school, a bit more on the lighter side than the School From Hell. In the first story I introduce Relena, which I've been hesitant to do before now as I think guy interaction is more fun to write than guys and teenage girls. Like Relena's comment at the end, I think there is something so attractive about a bunch of guys interacting with each other. Relena comes in again towards the end of DFA, so now is a good time to let the guys meet her.

  
  


School Daze

A compilation of short stories

Story 1: Coming to an Understanding

By: Dyna Dee

The warm autumn days began to shorten and cool slightly as the season ebbed lazily into early winter. It was during this time of year that the five gundam pilots found themselves enrolled into yet another private school conveniently and strategically located near the southern border of Sanq, one to several hours distance from a number of OZ bases, factories, a space ports, all potential and prime targets to the colonies finest.

One week after the last pilot arrived and settled into the school's routine, all students and pilots alike were aware of the very moment Relena Dorilan also joined the school's population. Her arrival caused a ripple of excitement as word was spread amongst the student body as she entered the front door, easily recognized from the photographs in the many magazines and newspapers as the newly deceased Vice Foreign Minister's daughter, who was widely reported to have been present at the time of her father's assassination.

To those who watched the well-known girl, curious as to what kind of a person she was, it was noted that she had a lingering air of sadness about her. Shyly, she accepted the many greeting, quietly returning the overtures of friendship, as if embarrassed by the attention she was getting.

The five pilots were also curious about the girl Heero reported meeting when he'd first come to earth, and Duo's brief meeting ending with him shooting Heero to defend her was a story well known to the other pilots. All five speculated as to why she had come to this particular school, and how, if this wasn't just coincidental, had she found them? They came to the conclusion that she had most likely followed them for some unknown reason, other than Duo's mirthful speculation that she was after Heero's body, which earned him a fierce, disapproving glare from his friend.

Once again Heero reminded the other four others that fraternizing with girls held the possibility of a security risk and complications they couldn't afford. As he spoke, his eyes stayed steadfastly on Duo, the main flirtatious chick magnet, and the recipient of this lecture for at least twenty-five times in the last two schools they'd attended.

Duo's answer to this repeated speech was his usual response whenever Heero lectured him on this, and any other subject dealing with his social life; he looked to his pal, Quatre, rolled his eyes upward in an attitude of "Oh brother, not again.", and then he'd promptly ignored Heero's advice, continuing his harmless flirting and dating.

As Heero droned on with his rehearsed and logical reasons to stay emotionally unattached from the fairer sex, Duo came to the conclusion that his best friend should know a little bit about what he was missing before he dismissed the idea entirely. Heero needed to relax and enjoy the company of a girl the American decided, and set his eyes to canvassing the crowded hallway for a potential subject.

Heero seemed to run out of reasons for Duo to stay on the straight and narrow, and ended his lecture as he observed his roommate's eyes beginning to roam the corridor, realizing anything else he'd say would fall on deaf ears. He motioned for the others to follow him to class, and as they continued down the busy hallway. Trowa, having the advantage of added height, noticed Relena was walking parallel to them, watching Heero from out the corner of her eye. With a crooked smile on his face, he nudged Quatre, who, after seeing what his friend found so humorous, nudged Duo. The braided boy's eyes widened as he recognized Relena and followed the girl's line of sight to find that it landed, not surprisingly, on their fearless leader. He gave Quatre and Trowa a knowing smile as he shifted his eyebrows. The two smiled back, knowing Duo was hatching a scheme that Heero was probably not going to like. Wufei caught a glimpse of their smiling exchange and lifted a questing eyebrow upward. Duo obligingly motioned his head towards the direction of the girl across the hallway, still fixed on the totally clueless Wing Pilot as he determinedly wove an deliberate path through the hoards of students making their way to class after lunch. The Chinese pilot rolled his eyes upward, a new mannerism for him thanks to Duo, and the three boys stifled their laughter as the words, "Ridiculous onna." reached their ears.

Heero stopped abruptly, causing the others to bump into each other and himself. "What?" he asked, perturbed at being left out of whatever the others found humorous, and wondering, once again, if he was the brunt of one of Duo's practical jokes. His hand automatically reached behind him and searched his back to determine if there was a sign on him saying something to the effect of "Kick Me", or "I'm the Rainbow Fairy. Let me grant your wish." He nearly strangled Duo with his braid from the reactions he encountered after wearing that particular unnoticed sign while walking through a large mall. Weirdos seemed to come out of the woodwork that day.

"Oh, nothing." Duo smiled innocently, immediately putting Heero on his guard. He'd become an expert in reading Duo's grins, and this one meant mischief.

"We were just noticing that you have an admirer." He then shifted his eyes across the hall, indicating Heero should look there for an answer to his question.

The Wing pilot turned his head, his eyebrows disappeared as they rose up into his long bangs as his eyes came to rest on the girl whose eyes also set on him. Both blushed, she smiled slightly, and he nodded before they both looked elsewhere. All this transpiring in about five seconds.

Duo clapped Heero on the shoulder and the group began to walk again. "Well," the American drawled. "that's a start, man. But we gotta work on your verbal and social skills."

Early evening found four of the five pilots on a basketball court wearing shorts and tank tops. Heero and Duo squared off against Wufei and Trowa. The sides were pretty evenly matched and the competitive nature of each boy surfaced with a vengeance. Back and forth they ran on the cement court located on the school grounds. A small group of students, mostly girls, sat a short distance away on the grass surrounding the basketball court and watching the game with interest.

On a grassy knoll some distance behind them and under one of the many trees that graced the grounds of the school, Relena Dorilan, still dressed in the school uniform, minus the jacket and tie, sat in the shade hoping to remain unnoticed as she, too, watched the participants of the obviously competitive game amongst good friends. A gentle, wistful smile graced her face as she watched the braided boy whiz past the tallest of the four and steal the basketball in mid-bounce. He dashed impossibly quick and agile past the boy with the black hair pulled tightly back into a small ponytail and Heero, and in a leap, seeming to defy gravity, he slammed dunked the ball into the hoop. His left hand had grabbed on and now held firmly onto the metal rim after the brown ball had been pushed through the net, his feet were still dangling as he brought his free arm down and began scratching his side making loud monkey sounds. The taller of the three reached up to the hanging boy's stretched side and grabbed at his ribs. The braided bundle of energy yelled and dropped, obviously ticklish. Relena observed the scene and chuckled to herself.

The four began to play again, and Relena sighed deeply, then jumped, as she was startled by a quiet, questioning voice behind her.

"Enjoying the game, Miss Relena?"

She turned her head, blushing furiously, to meet the aquamarine eyes of the blond haired boy who she determined to be another pilot as he associated closely with the other four. He'd changed out of his school uniform and now wore his normal street clothes; pleated beige slacks, and a white oxford shirt.

"Hello." she replied, smiling nervously.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked pleasantly.

"Please do." she shifted a little nervously to make room on the small blanket she'd bought to sit on. After settling onto the blanket, several moments of awkward silence passed before she raised her eyes to meet his.

"You know who we are, don't you?" he asked, and startled her with the direct approach.

"Yes." she replied fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, wondering what kind of trouble she was in because of that knowledge. 

"My name is Quatre." he said quietly and extended his hand politely. "but here at school I'm Jack."

"It's nice to meet you Quatre/Jack." She smiled as she placed her hand in his and immediately noticed the callouses on his palms against her soft hand. "I guess you know already that I'm Relena." she replied, then removed her hand. "Why aren't you playing?" she asked, motioning to the basketball court with her head and wanting to end the formality between them.

Quatre smiled and shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I don't enjoy the game, and those four are much too competitive for my taste. Besides, it's easier to play with even numbers."

They shared a slight smile of understanding, then turned back in time to see Quatre to see Wufei pass the ball to Trowa who, from half court, effortlessly launched it upward in a high arch to have it come down neatly and swoosh into the net without touching the rim. Cheers erupted all around them by their small appreciative audience.

"They are fun to watch though, aren't they?" he asked with a chuckle.

"That they are." Relena replied with a matching smile.

Quatre turned his head to study the girl next to him, his eyes taking in all her nuances as he spoke. "Why are you here, Relena? You could draw unwanted attention to us with your presence here, and endanger the team as well as our missions."

She shook her head, sadly. "That's not my intention." She turned her eyes away from the game to look at the boy next to her.

"Then what are your intentions?" he asked in a tone of grave seriousness she found odd coming from the boy who seemed so gentle and caring.

The honey blonde-haired girl leaned back to rest her shoulders on the trunk of the tree and sighed deeply. "I just lost my father." she began quietly, her voice and manner sad.

"Yes, I heard." the blonde boy's eyes reflected his sincere sympathy for her loss. "I'm sorry."

"It was quite a shock, as you can imagine." she continued and Quatre nodded to encourage her to keep going.

"His last words to me shook my world apart." she confessed and looked into the gentle boy's face. "He told me I wasn't his real daughter, that I'm a Peacecraft of the destroyed Sanq Kingdom.

Quatre's eyes widened in surprise. 

"In one day," she continued on in a melancholy tone, "I lost my foundation and, in a way, my life as it was. I was suddenly thrust into a new heritage with ideologies and responsibilities I'm expected to adopt, support, and promote." She paused as she looked down to see Quatre's calloused hand close around her's in a gesture of comfort and support. "I also gained two great opponents that day, OZ and Romafeller." Her eyes stayed lowered back down to Quatre's hand.

Slowly, she raised them to focus on the distant basketball court and on one person in particular currently running with the ball. She then continued. "When I met Heero for the first time," she began, her voice becoming more steady now. "I felt such an overwhelming sense of power and conviction radiating from him." She chuckled as her memories came back to her of that time. "I was both infatuated and fearful of him." she admitted. "But I was drawn and confused by him and his strength. That's why I'm here now." she turned to look at the boy who was listening intently to her explanation. "I need to become strong and gain a strength of conviction you pilots seem to carry with you. I had hoped that in just being near you, I could glean some of that strength, becoming stronger myself."

A sudden bark of laughter drew both blondes to look at the basketball court. Quatre smiled to see Duo was on the ground with Trowa struggling to hold him down while Wufei appeared to be tickling the laughing and pleading boy. Heero stood a short distance away with his hands on his hips watching the other pilots in their momentarily lapse of sanity.

"I wonder what he did this time?" Quatre chuckled as he moved to stand. "I better go rescue him before it turns to torture. Last time they tickled him, he threw up his dinner all over the court, and let me tell you, that was anything but fun to clean up."

Relena's eyes followed his movements. "Do you think my following you pilots here is.....strange, Quatre?" Relena asked as she looked up to the handsome blonde Arabian. 

Quatre kept his eyes ahead on the others as he replied. "No, not now that you've told me your reasons." Then he added, "Just try not to draw any undo attention to us, and don't make it a habit of following us." He looked to her face, his own not unkind, but deadly serious.

"I understand." she answered honestly. "And, thank you." she said sincerely as she reached out and gently touched his arm.

With a slight nod and small grin, he turned from her and ran down the grassy knoll and across the lawn to the others on the court.

Relena watched as he approached and launched himself onto the boy with the long hair covering one eye, tickling him to effectively distract him from his hold on the tortured braided boy. Within moments all five boys were in a tangle of limbs as they rolled across the cement court wrestling and tickling each other, their laughter filling the air. The sound of their play brought a contented smile to her face. 'There's something so attractive and appealing about male camaraderie.' she thought to herself with a wistful sigh, wising she had something or someone similar in her life. 'Maybe some day' she thought with a sigh of wistful longing.

End 

  
  


Next School Daze story: My Ping


	2. My Ping

Again, I don't own any part of GW, not profit from my simple rambling.

School Daze, Story 2

My Ping

By: Dyna Dee

Warnings: Sad attempt at poetry, suggestive, fluffy

  
  


"Mr. Wells?"

With a jolt upward, Duo Maxwell raised his head from off his desk and quickly wiped away any trace of spittle from his chin. "Yes, Mam?" he replied, knowing he'd probably missed something. His wide, blinking eyes tried to focus on the aging, gray-haired English teacher standing to the side of his desk frowning down on him in disapproval.

"Are you ready to recite you selection?" she asked with a frown.

"Yes, Mam." he replied again and without any enthusiasm. He hated this class. He usually didn't mind English, in fact, it was one class that he did better in than his fellow pilots. But the subject they were currently studying was not his favorite, poetry. Definitely not his forte, and most definitely boring!

The assignment had been to select a poem and recite it in front of the class, and in the last two day, he'd heard stumbling recitals from the words of famous and obscure world and colony poets. 

Of the five pilots, Heero was the first to recite his selected poem. He stood ramrod straight and unerringly, without any inflection in his voice, recited a sonnet from William Shakespeare. Trowa, other than the spark of fire in his green eyes signaling the words he spoke meant something to him, which was recognized only by the other four pilots, recited his selected poem with just as little vocal emotion when he spoke the angry words of a poet who had lived on L-3 during the Federation's occupation. Wufei quoted Tennyson adequately, and Quatre recited his poem in Arabic by a poet no one had ever heard of, then translated it for the class in English revealing to them a descriptive litany on the beauties of the desert. He told the others later that it was written by Abdul, a soldier in the corps of the Maguanacs. As he concluded his recitation, he sat in his desk next to the American teen who smirked as he leaned over and muttered with a grin, "Show off." 

"We're ready when you are, Mr. Wells." Mrs Humphrey said, now tapping her foot in annoyance at the slow moving boy. 

Duo Maxwell, currently known as Max Wells, reluctantly stood up and moved to the front of the class to make his oral presentation. Turning to the class with a smile breaking out on his face and a sparkle in his eyes, he began. "Good morning!" he greeted them all cheerfully with a slight dramatic bow. "Today I will be reciting the words of the ancient, but famous poet, who inspired countless children to dream, Dr. Seuss. The poem, Green Eggs and Ham."

Despite the roar of applause from his dramatic presentation, the class clown received only a B for his efforts. He could only assume Dr. Seuss wasn't Mrs. Humphrey's favorite poet.

The pilots lived in a small, unobtrusive house several blocks from the school. Their missions recently had been fairly easy and somewhat local giving the boys some time to fit into their environment more easily. They tried to keep a low profile in their neighborhood as well as at school. 

School work at this public institution proved to be less than difficult for the five, and homework seemed minimal much to Heero and Wufei's displeasure. This left them with a lot of extra time on their hands, which usually meant some trouble would soon be brewing. It was decided to solve the problem before it began by keeping one particular pilot occupied. From past experience, they came to the conclusion that if Duo was bored, he would find something interesting to fill his or their time with. They'd discovered a bored Duo was a dangerous thing to contain. The four met together while their friend in question was taking his shower, and decided to split up the responsibility of keeping him busy and out of a future disaster.

Each pilot was assigned a day of the week to keep the braided bundle of mischief busy. Heero took two days to play one-on-one basketball after school with his friend. Quatre offered to take him to the park with the enticement of a paddle boat ride and ice cream. Wufei took Duo aside two nights a week to teach him some martial arts, something the agile American proved to be very adept in. Trowa, who volunteered twice a week at a local animal shelter, convinced the Deathscythe pilot the value of volunteering and into accompanying him.

The first and second week went smoothly, school was going well, the house was attended to, and Duo was exhausted enough each day to go to bed at a normal hour, seeking a much needed rest.

It was on his fourth visit to the animal shelter with Trowa that brought a change. They had gone early that Saturday morning, around 8:30 a.m., and arrived back at the safehouse around 2:00 p.m. Quatre looked up from his position on the couch where he was separating and folding freshly washed and still warm clothes from the dryer. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up and instantly saw that something wasn't right. Duo looked crestfallen and leaned against Trowa who had an arm around the American's shoulder in a manner of giving comfort.

"What's the matter? What's happened?" Quatre asked quietly alarmed.

Duo looked up, his eyes were dry, but filled with unspoken hurt. Quatre blinked, startled at the negative emotion displayed by the usually buoyant teen. "Nothing to worry about, Quatre." Duo replied quietly. "I just need to go rest for a while. Not use to getting up so early." he said lamely.

"Duo..." Quatre's voice scolded lightly, knowing his friend was uncharacteristically lying to him. 

"Go on, Duo." Trowa cut in, his voice filled with soft compassion. "We'll wake you up for dinner."

The braided boy looked away from the other two and slowly made his way upstairs to his room.

"What happened?" the blonde asked quietly after they heard the door upstairs shut.

Trowa sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid Duo got attached to a couple of dogs on his first visit last week, and today the were put down. He's just really upset about it." he looked up the stairway where Duo had disappeared moments ago. "I'm sure he'll get over it soon." the Heavyarms' pilot added softly.

Slowly Quatre returned to his task at hand, his mind pondering the situation. "Maybe you shouldn't take him anymore." He suggested. "We can't afford for him to be emotional disturbed if we should get a mission, and you know Duo's past, he's lost almost everyone he's ever cared about." 

Trowa sighed as he reached over and pick up a shirt from off the large pile of clean clothing and absently started folding it. "I think I'll leave it up to him because he really did seem to enjoy volunteering until this happened. I should have prepared him for it."

The evening meal was much quieter than usual as the normally talkative teen stared at his plate and played with the food.

Four sets of eyes surreptitiously watched him, then exchanged wondering glances with each other. Three sets of eyes landed on Heero, signaling him to take the lead. Just as he opened his mouth to speak to his friend, Duo's voice quietly spoke up as he stared at his food.

"Can I have a dog?" he asked.

Four set of eyes blinked in astonishment of the surprised request.

"I don 't see how that's possible, Duo." Heero answered and looked to Trowa to take the conversation from there.

The auburn haired boy's green eyes saddened as they observed the black clad shoulders slump at Heero's answer. "It wouldn't be practical, Duo." he added, then began to explain. "We're gone from the house so often that a dog would be lonely. Then if we're called away on a mission, we'd have to leave it behind. A battle, flight in your gundam, and infiltration are hard enough on us, they're certainly no place for a pet." 

Duo shrugged his shoulders. "I know." he whispered dejectedly. "I just thought it would be nice to save at least one dog."

There was silence once more at the table and the others slowly returned to the meal when he spoke up again.

"It just doesn't seem right." Duo's voice seemed a bit strained as if he was fighting his emotions. Quatre shot a glance at Wufei and then shifted his sight to their braided friend. The Shenlong Pilot understood and putting down his fork, he leaned over to the boy on his right and put a comforting arm around his shoulder. This seemed to encourage Duo to continue with his thoughts.

"You know, they're throw-aways, just like I was on L-2. When nobody wants them, they're destroyed, just like the poor and homeless on my colony." He took a moment to swallow hard before continuing, Wufei's arm tightening around him. "I was a stray, too, just as much as those animals at the shelter. It's just not right." he whispered tightly shaking his head. "Just not right."

The others watched as Wufei gently turned Duo's slumping body towards him, and drew him more fully into his embrace, and with some initial awkwardness, gave him as much comfort and reassurance as he could.

"You're not a throw away." Wufei said quietly into the other boy's ear. "Not a stray and not unwanted."

Duo's arms encircled his friend, holding on tightly, grateful to hear the words he knew were true, but at times they were still hard to believe. This was one of those times.

"I'm sorry, Duo." Trowa spoke up as he watched Wufei comfort their friend. "I didn't know it would be so hard on you. I don't think you should go back with me again."

Duo pulled back from the Chinese boy, signaling he'd be alright. "Thanks, Wu." he whispered sincerely with a shaky smile before turning to look at Trowa.

"I actually like going." he told his other friend. "I just wasn't prepared to have that happen." He tilted his head and looked with curiosity to the other boy. "How do you do it, Trowa?" he asked. "How can you go and care for the animals knowing they're going to be killed?"

"Not all of them are put down, Duo, only those who have been there for several weeks." Trowa explained patiently. "Some are adopted and some are found by their owners. I try to care for those injured in the hope that they will be the lucky ones. Unfortunately," he sighed deeply, "there are too many animals and the facility can't afford to feed and care for them indefinitely. So, they keep them for several weeks and if they're not adopted or found, they're put down." He noticed that Duo's eyes had turned dark while he spoke. "I know Duo, I don't like it either, but the shelter is doing the best it can, and that's why I volunteer, to help out and give the animals care, and affection while they're there." His eyes softened as he watched his friend try to come to terms with the problem. "You're very good at giving that to them, Duo. I'm just sorry it reminded you of your past."

'It was just a shock." Duo admitted now blushing with embarrassment at his display of moodiness. "I think I'd like to go back, now that I know what to expect."

Wufei had returned to his chair and he and the others listen to Trowa and Duo's exchange.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Heero interrupted, and Duo turned his head to see his friend frowning at him. "This upset you too much." he explained. 

"It did." Duo conceded. "As I said, it was a shock. I wasn't prepared for it. But I think I can handle it now."

Heero's look turned skeptical.

"But you know what would really make me happy?" the braided boy raised a mischievous smile. "A puppy."

"No!" Heero answered firmly.

Duo looked around the table and was met with the others shaking their heads, denying him his wish. "Sheesh, you guys are spoil sports." he murmured and reached for his fork to take his first bite of the food in front of him. "Oh man!" he complained, his face displaying his distaste. "This food is cold!"

Duo accompanied Trowa again on Wednesday after school and again on Saturday morning. He was watched closely by the others after he came home to determine his reaction to whatever might have happened at the shelter. He came back on Saturday a bit melancholy for a short time, but not as upset as the week before. It was decided by Heero that he could continue to volunteer.

The days shortened considerably as fall eased gently towards winter. School was going well, and Duo endured a couple of stern reminders from Heero about fraternizing with the female population with his usual aplomb, and continued on. He was as popular in this school as he'd been in others. 

It was dark and chilly when Duo entered the safehouse the following Wednesday as he returned from his volunteering, his black leather bomber jacket was zipped up tightly against the cooling evening breeze.

"Where's Trowa?" Wufei asked from the couch where he was watching the evening news.

"He's coming. I left a little early." Duo explained cheerfully, and ran up the stairs to his room. Wufei heard his door shut tightly and wondered, for only a moment, if everything was alright before he went back to his reading.

Trowa entered about fifteen minutes later in his usual calm, unflappable manner.

"Is Duo okay?" Wufei asked after greeting the taller boy as the other took off his jacket and moved to settle onto the other side of the couch.

"He seemed fine to me. Why?" Trowa asked as he brought his feet up to rest on the coffee table, bringing a frown to the Chinese boy's face. The house they rented was furnished, and Wufei and Quatre especially were raised not to make such a faux pas as putting your feet on the furniture. Trowa smiled a bit smugly knowing it irked his fellow pilot.

Wufei tried to ignore Trowa's intentional lack of manners and focused on the topic at hand. "He came in and ran upstairs to his room." he replied.

"He was fine when I last saw him. I think he's just worried about some homework, and mentioned he needed to call some girl tonight." Trowa answered calmly, showing he wasn't worried, and the Chinese boy relaxed having received the reassurance. He returned to his book, knowing that he would be watching the American during the evening meal.

Duo bounced into the kitchen as the others sat in their places awaiting his arrival. To all appearances he was his usual vibrant, buoyant self. He shoved his dinner down at an amazing speed and excused himself saying he had an errand to run.

He turned down Heero's offer for company saying it was kinda cold out and he wouldn't be gone long. He then flew out of the kitchen. His rapid footsteps were easily tracked as he went up the stairs, followed by the slamming of his bedroom door. A few minutes later he descended the stairs and exited out the front door, slamming it closed behind him, heralding his exit.

"He seems to be in a good mood." Heero commented and returned his attention to his plate.

"Yeah, he does." Trowa raised a curious eyebrow. "Wonder why?"

"Don't question a good thing." Wufei snorted

"Well, I'm glad for it." Quatre piped up. "For whatever reason." the other nodded in agreement.

The next day began a string of events that brought back some concern to the other four pilots. Duo canceled his lesson with Wufei and left the safehouse with his backpack and leather jacket zipped up against the slight chill. The Shenlong pilot didn't think much about it until he later learned that Duo had also canceled a scheduled outing with Quatre to go to a movie the next day. Trowa went alone to the shelter on Saturday and Duo made a brief late-morning appearance in the kitchen before leaving the house stating he'd be gone most of the day. Armed with his backpack slung casually over the shoulder of his zipped jacket, he waved goodbye to the other three and left for the day. 

"What's going on with him now?" Wufei questioned.

"I don't know." Heero shrugged. "But his actions are becoming suspicious."

Both Asian boys turned to look at their blonde friend.

"Don't ask me." Quatre raised his hands up. "I've no idea."

Sunday proved to be another day that the Deathscythe pilot made himself scarce. But as the first day of the week arrived, the five settled in their school routine with the exception that Duo had left earlier for school than they did, and was late to several classes. After school, when the five normally walked home together, their elusive friend was nowhere to be found. He came in just before dinner and with his jacket still on as he complained of the cold outside, and ran up to his room. He reappeared for the meal with a smile intact as well as his good humor.

The four questioned him in a round-about way as to what his activities were. He merely shrugged and said he'd been really busy.

Heero announced that they were going to make a pre-emptive strike against two bases in ten days time. After that, they would again relocate.

"Ten days?" Duo repeated quietly to himself. Quatre noted a slight look of dismay on the other pilot's face.

Putting two and two together, the Sandrock pilot could imagine only one possible reason for Duo's elusive behavior and his sadness at the thought of moving. He had a girlfriend. His elusiveness now made sense, because Heero repeatedly lectured the notorious girl magnet against forming any attachments. Duo had always agreed, though refusing to stay away from the female persuasion entirely, saying it was unnatural for him to do so. Quatre reasoned that someone special must have caught the American's eye and maybe his heart.

The Arabian sighed. This would be another hard lesson for his outgoing friend. Maybe next time he would follow Heero's advice.

Wufei reminded everyone of their assignment in their English class, to write a poem about something they felt strongly about. Duo's eyes lit up and he used that excuse to make a quick exit to his room.

After he left, Quatre shared his observations about Duo's behavior and his reasoning for it.

"An onna?" Wufei snorted in disgust.

"He should have listened to me." Heero interjected with a frown.

"A pity," Trowa said with a sad shake of his head. "But for Duo, it's inevitable."

Quatre looked quizzically at his friend. "Why? Because Duo's so friendly?"

"He's too good looking." Heero answered.

"An onna magnet." Wufei offered.

"His eyes and smile draw them in like flies to sugar." Trowa added.

"And he needs love." Quatre ended their train of thought on that sad note.

Together they decided to let their friend deal with his eminent departure the best he could, and without them running interference. Duo kept up his elusive routine, though surprisingly in an upbeat mood when he shared his meals with them. Battle plans and school work took up most of their evenings.

Two days before their departure, the five met in their English class. The last several days had been spent listening to some pretty lame, intensely emotional, and personal poetry written by the students of the class.

Heero had written a long, dull (in Duo's opinion) five line, twenty-eight stanza poem on Peace.

Wufei gave a succinct one-minute rhyming discourse on Justice.

Quatre smiled sweetly as he recited his humorous poem on sisters, a subject he was a definite expert on.

Trowa stood before the class, silent for a full minute before he began to speak with his quiet voice and calm manner and recited a two stanza poem on the beauty of a sharp knife.

Duo's head lay in its usual position, on his desk, his eyelids closed when the teacher called his name. Wufei kicked his desk to rouse the napping boy. The braided head shot up. "What?" he gasped.

"Mr. Wells." The teacher's voice sharply called his attention to her as she stood in front of the classroom. "Are you ready to present your poem?" she asked with one eyebrow raised in disapproval once again. It was clear to all that she expected an excuse from the boy she was addressing.

Duo stood up and adjusted his jacket, still partially zipped up against the chill he always complained about. "Yes Mam, I'm ready." he announced happily, surprising everyone in the room. Those who had been dozing at their desks just as he had been doing, sensed something was about to happen and sat up in anticipation.

The elderly woman nodded and moved to sit in her chair behind her desk as the class clown walked from the back of the classroom to the front. Every eye in the room followed the attractive boy's progress, some almost seemed mesmerized by the sway of his braid as the sauntered down the isle.

Duo reached the front and turned, giving the entire classroom a mischievous smile and a wink. The other four pilots sat up, coming to full attention knowing that smile usually got them into trouble.

The grinning boy reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a folded piece of paper. He carefully unfolded it and placed it on the music stand on his right side that was put there for the purpose of leaving the student-poet's hands free. The other pilots in the back of the room nervously glanced at each other and returned their focus to the boy standing confidently in the front of the class.

The braided teen turned his head to the left to nod at Mrs. Humphrey, signaling he was ready, then faced forward.

"My poem is titled My Ping." The announced, then in a dramatic movement, he raised his hands and arms out in supplication to the classroom and began with a flourish.

"Fellow students, dear friends,

All lend me your ears

And I'll tell you of something I've discovered

most wondrous and dear."

He put his hands on his hips, his chest jutting out slightly in a haughty pose.

"Now I've always been told

size doesn't matter at all."

He smiled crookedly.

"Well that's damn good

cause my Ping's kinda small."

  
  


All eyes and ears were acutely attuned to the braided boy's words at this point, and a few gasps sounded at the insinuation just made. The reaction caused the American to smile broadly, and he continued on.

"You may ask yourself

what is a Ping?

I'll tell you straight

My Ping's the most wondrous of things.

  
  


Under cotton or leather

It's safe from prying eyes.

For the sight of my Ping

Most assuredly would elicit envious sighs."

The soft thudding sound brought Duo's eyes to the back of the room. Wufei had lowered his head down to his desk and covered his head with his arms. Trowa had his face buried in his upraised hands. Heero glared, gripping the edges of his desk until his knuckles were white, and Quatre bore the look of disbelief with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

Undaunted, even seeming pleased, Duo kept going.

"I could have called it

Bong or Gong,

But such big words

Well, it just seemed wrong.

  
  


My Ping sits neatly 

On my lap,

And when it's calm

It takes a nap.

  
  


Yet it doesn't like

To feel neglect

With a gentle stroke

It comes erect."

Another dull thump signaled the teacher had just passed out.

"Under layers of clothing

Ping's dormant in sleep

But because you're my friends

I'll give you a peek."

Heero slumped forward, his head in his hands looking as if he would like to disappear as Duo reached for the zipper of his leather jacket, a knowing smirk on his face, as he teasingly pulled it down in an agonizingly slow manner. The entire class, well those conscious anyway, held their breaths, and the room was silent except for the sound of the slow release of every single tooth of the metal zipper as it was opened.

Duo's voice took on a sultry tone as he ended.

"So come, everyone of you

Raise your voice and sing

As I unzip my clothing

And reveal to you....my wonderful Ping."

Some of the students covered their eyes, some groaned and peeked through their fingers. Some girls giggled and carefully watched the zipper lower in anticipation of what the handsome, outrageous boy would do next.

Heero's head had joined Wufei's position, face down on his desk. Trowa's hair was the only thing visible at desk level as he slumped down. Quatre was still frozen in dumbfounded disbelief. His face an unhealthy shade of pink, nearing red.

A slight gasp from the female persuasion was followed by a long sigh and multiple surprised gasps.

"He is sooo dead." Heero mumbled, not lifting his head from his desktop

Suddenly one single voice sounded in a bark of laughter. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa recognized it as Quatre's laugh. They cautiously rose up and turned their heads to look at their blonde friend as twitters, giggles, and other sounds of laughter began to erupt through the classroom.

Uncharacteristically, the Sandrock Pilot laughed loudly, holding his aching sides, tears forming in is eyes from his mirth.

The other three nervously, but curiously followed the blonds line of vision to the boy at the front of the class.

Duo stood grinning, his head lowered to look down at his mid-section. Out of the lower unzipped opening of his jacket poked a tiny, bony head with a small snout ending with a brown, wet nose.

"What the hell is that?" Heero asked tilting his head thinking it looked like a large rat, but different somehow.

"It's a dog." Trowa answered, a smile growing as the words of the poem's double meaning became obvious to him. "A Chihuahua, to be exact." he added as he began to chuckle.

The girls in the room quickly left their seats to swarm around the boy who looked tenderly down upon the tiny dog. The male population in the room exchanged relieved glances and nervous chuckles that Max Wells didn't expose what they thought he was outrageously hinting at in his poem.

"Wh...what's going on here?" Mrs. Humphrey's shaking voice was heard as her head rose up from her desk, her eyes dazed, and the glasses on her face were tilted at a sharp angle. Instantly the room silenced for a moment, then became a flurry of activity as all the girls scattered to rush back to their desks. Duo turned to look at the elderly woman, feeling momentarily sympathy for causing her to faint. He watched as she shook the confusion from her mind and straightened her black rimmed glasses.

"I just finished my poem, Mrs. Humphrey." He reminded her. "Did I put you to sleep?" he asked, putting on him most innocent face hoping he wouldn't be sent to the office.

It took a moment for the woman's memory to come back, and she gave herself a moment to run her fingers through her short, salt and pepper colored hair in an irritated manner. "As I recall, Mr. Well," she looked up sharply at the boy at the side of her desk "You poem was highly inappropriate." 

"I was just talking about my Ping." he replied with a insouciant shrug. 

"Exactly!" she answered sharply, taking out a notepad and pen to write a note for the boy to take to the office with him.

Duo turned to face her. "Mrs. Humphrey," he called her name softly to get her attention "this is Ping." He pulled the golden brown furred, unusually small and fragile looking dog out from his jacket to show her.

The woman's eyes widened and her mouth formed an "O". She blinked several times and then managed a slight smile. "Oh, I see." she paused, blushing a bit at her misinterpretation of the poem. "She's a lovely little dog." she said sincerely, her smile grew and her eyes softened.

"And she's so good, well behaved, and loving." Duo said, his voice full of affection as he brought the little dog up to his face to rub his cheek against the bony head. The dog replied by wagging it's small tail and licking his cheek. The girls in the classroom ate it up and sighed. "I got her at the animal shelter." He continued, then a look of sadness crossed his features. "I can't keep her, though. Do you know anyone who would like such a wonderful pet?" He asked his teacher with a look of hope in his eyes. "Someone who will take really good care of her?"

Mrs. Humphrey seemed to have forgotten her lesson and class as her eyes wandered from the tiny dog to the boy who held her tenderly. "I think I could give her a home." she smiled gently. "I'm retiring at the end of this semester and could use a little companion."

Duo's eyes lit up. "She'll be a great companion!" he exclaimed and smiled broadly. "You won't regret it, I promise."

"May I?" the woman's open hands reached forward and, almost regretfully, Duo nodded. He kissed the dogs knobby head and rubbed his cheek against the soft fur before he carefully placed his former hidden treasure into the woman's waiting hands. She brought Ping close to her body and gently pressed the slightly shaking animal against her chest and cuddled the dog lovingly.

Any regret the boy had in giving up the dog vanished when he saw the teacher visibly soften at the comfort the little creature offered. He'd felt the same way when he'd first picked her up at the shelter and couldn't bear to put her down. He even defied his friends' refusal to have an animal in order to keep that comfort for a little while longer. With a sigh, he returned to his desk. The other pilots stared at him as he approached, only Quatre and Trowa held any hint of a soft smile. Wufei and Heero frowned at him and he knew he was in for another lecture when he got home. He mentally shrugged. It was worth it. He didn't regret keeping Ping even if he had to stay away from his friends in order to take care of her and keep his secret. Now the poem, that shouldn't have been too much of a surprise to them, had a two fold effect, he'd completed an assignment in his normal off-colored way, and succeeded in getting Ping a new home. He'd thought Mrs. Humphrey looked lonely, and he'd gambled that she would melt at the sight of the little dog. His instincts paid off again.

"Thank you, Mr. Wells." Mrs. Humphrey stood from her desk smiling, Ping comfortably nestled in her arms. "Now, whose next?" she asked more cheerfully than any of the her students had witnessed before.

Max Wells was the most popular person on campus that day as rumor of his poem spread throughout the student population. Guys clapped him on the back at the news of his suggestive poem and making a teacher faint, and insisting he repeat it to them. The girls gushed at his sensitivity and kindness to the elderly teacher. All in all, he was the hero of the day, having brought a little life to another dull day of school.

End 


	3. 3. Wrong Way Day

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the GW characters and make no profit in writing these tales.

School Daze, Story 3

Wrong Way Day

By: Dyna Dee

Warnings: Quatre swearing *gasp*

This was just not his day, thought the blonde Arabian as he plopped himself down on the bench in the boy's locker room. His first clue should have been when he had over slept his alarm and had to skip showering in order to get some breakfast. Then, as he sat at the kitchen table, Duo started wrestling Wufei for the last bit of jam in the jar and bumped into him just as he raised a full glass of orange juice to his lips. The result was a sticky and drenched shirt and lap. Leaving his untouched cereal and toast, he ran to his room to change, only to realize that he hadn't any clean clothes as he had just returned from a mission the night before. Grumbling words under his breath that were once totally unfamiliar to his tongue, he took a pair of wrinkled pants and shirt out of the hamper and forced himself to bear the unaccustomed untidiness to wear them. After all the rushing, he missed the bus and was late for his first class that had a surprise quiz, which the teacher refused to let him take because of his tardiness. He'd forgotten one of his textbooks for the next class, earning docked points and a scowl from that teacher, plus his lunch that Trowa had packed for him and his wallet both had been left at the safehouse when he made the mad dash for the bus. Lunch was miserable as he couldn't find his friends and he was starving. And now this.

"Crap!!!" Quatre Winner barked out his frustration as the lace to his tennis shoe broke in his attempt to tie it.

"I heard that." Wufei's voice called out in his usual droll humor from somewhere else in the boy's locker room.

"Shut up!" he snapped back, now feeling even more flustered that he had allowed himself to openly vent his frustration, something the other pilots weren't use to. They always looked to him as being their calm, cheerful friend, "Brilliant in more ways then one." Duo had dubbed him one day. Well dammit, he had bad days, too, and he could curse if he wanted to, certainly the others did. Though he grudgingly admitted to himself that Duo had cut down his ribald vocabulary since they first met, and he knew it was for his benefit that he had done so. 

Speak of the devil. "You're getting better." Duo teased as his head peeked around the corner of the lockers. "But I could teach you a few different words with a bit more punch to 'em." he added with a crooked smile.

"I'm sure you could, but no thanks." Quatre replied with a snort of disdain.

The long haired boy frowned at his friend's uncharacteristic attitude. He came around the corner of the row of lockers dressed in his P.E. clothes and carrying his tennis shoes to approach his frowning friend. "What's wrong, Q, bad day?" He asked quietly as he sat next to the blonde on the bench.

The Arabian held up his broken lace for Duo's inspection. "I hate this class." he announced.

"I know," Duo smiled knowingly as he put a commiserating hand on his friend's slumped shoulder. "Just consider it workout time. If we do this at school, then Heero won't put us through the paces back at the house." 

Quatre shuddered at the thought. He wasn't a wimp, but neither did he have the stamina that Heero and Wufei had. Duo's hyperactivity and competitive streak seemed to help him to keep up with them, and Trowa's strength sometimes rivaled Heero's. Quatre knew that he would never be as strong nor as fast as the others, his talents lay elsewhere. The workouts that Heero came up with were more than challenging, they were designed to keep the Perfect Soldier pushing the limits of his own remarkable strength, far and away superior over his own abilities. Could he help it that his favorite sports were polo, tennis, and racquetball? Not wimp sports by any means, they just didn't require one thousand sit-ups and five hundred push-ups. P.E. class was definitely preferable to Heero's workouts, even if they were currently playing the game he loathed.

"I hate football." he told Duo with a disgruntled sigh. "Why can't we play volleyball or tennis? Why don't they have a racquetball court? Anything but football. I don't know the rules and I don't like to be tackled. It's.... not..... fun!" he pouted and inwardly winced as he heard himself whine.

Duo sling his arm over his friend's shoulder. "Could be worse." he suggested. "It could be rugby, and you don't like basketball either."

"You're not making me feel any better, Duo." Quatre looked askance at his friend.

"Come on, Q, it's flag football today." his friend chided with a smile, then got a devilish look about him as he lowered his voice. "And I overheard coach telling another guy that we're playing against the girls today and there's no tackling allowed, even for fun."

"Really?" the blonde perked up at the thought, his interest piqued at the idea of a gentler game and girls to boot.

"Really." Duo smiled. "If you want to, you can just stick to the outside of the line and just pull the strips of cloth from the person carrying the ball, that stops the play....no tackling."

"Well," the blonde gave a slight smile. "That might be better. I hate it when you guys tackle me. Heero and Trowa are brutal."

"Don't I know it." Duo's smile dimmed just a bit as a memory of one of the tackles he'd received from Heero left him with a slight concussion. He'd been the unfortunate beneficiary of his friends' strength many times on a variety of playing fields, and it made him run all that much faster when he saw any of them coming for him.

"What about this?" Quatre held up the broken lace.

"Here, take mine." Duo quickly put his shoe on his lap and began to unlace one of them. "It'll be more fair to the girls if I'm handicapped and can't run as fast." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Gotta let them catch me once in a while." he added with a pixilated smile.

Quatre stood on the large green field at the end of the line of boys, facing a line of girls. He was trying to understand this American game and be a part of the team. He was relieved that the others, seeing his confusion and reluctance, chose to run the ball themselves or pass it to someone who actually wanted it. He was content to follow in their wake as they ran down the field, and tried to block the passage of whatever girl opposite him tried to sneak by.

It was nearing the end of the class period and the girls currently had the ball in their possession and everyone on the field was waiting for the play to start. Personally, Quatre was waiting for the coach to blow his whistle, signaling an end to the class.

He watched as a pony-tailed brunet that was playing center placed the ball down between her spread feet and bent over. She hiked the ball back to the girl standing approximately eight feet behind her. The tall, amazon-like redhead easily caught the ball and ran to her left as the line of boys converged forward to stop her progress.

Quatre dutifully ran towards the small blonde opposite him. She wasn't very fast and probably hated this game as much as he did. But during the game, he had noticed she was pretty and had nice legs. Her name was Brenna. Nice name, he thought as he trailed after her thinking maybe he'd follow Duo's example and ask her out. She'd certainly seemed friendly enough as they'd exchanged names and shy smiles as they lined up against each other throughout the game.

Suddenly, Brenna cut back and her eyes widened. Quatre turned to see what was happening just in time to see the deep brown pigskin come flying towards him. Reaching his hands out, he stood feeling flabbergasted when it landed squarely in his open hands. He momentarily blinked at the football, feeling stunned and knowing he was suppose to be doing something.

"Run!" Duo's voice rang above all the other voices on the field, obviously excited with the turn of events. Tucking the ball under his arm, he shot down the field. All around him the air was filled with the shouts of his teammates, and the high pitched squeals of the girls as they followed behind him. Out of the combined cacophony of shouting, he could hear Brenna, dogging his heels and yelling at him, he focused his mind so he could make out her words. 

"Stop, you're going the wrong way." she shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth as she chased after him. She repeated it again and comprehending her words, his steps faltered. She ran up close to him, but didn't try to take his flag.

"Listen," she said almost breathless, her hands out. "Give me the ball so you don't score for us."

Quatre looked up seeing both the guys and girls behind him running towards them with a stunned look on their faces and their shouts combining into words that were completely uncomprehensible to him.

"Hurry!" she urged him anxiously, her hands motioning for him to act quickly.

Looking up and down the field, he wondered how he'd gotten turned around as he tossed her the ball, then blinked in confusion when Brenna caught the ball, tucked it under her arm, and immediately ran back the way they'd come.

A cry went up across the field and Quatre couldn't make sense of it. The girls on the field quickly rallied to protect their teammate with the ball now tucked securely in her arms and running for all she was worth down the field. He turned to look at his friends who were standing still on the field and looking at him in obvious disbelief. Heero was the first to come out of his state of shock and turned to chase after the girls, Duo fell dramatically to the ground onto his stomach and gripped his hair, Wufei rolled his eyes heavenward, and Trowa shook his head, a wry grin on his face before they, too, started down the field.

The Sandrock pilot put the pieces together realizing he'd been duped, royally, and with his head bowed and shoulders slumped, he walked over to Duo's prone body.

In the background, the sounds of the girls squealing at the surprised touchdown could be heard, probably all across the campus, Quatre grimaced. Duo rolled onto his back as he approached and squinted up against the sunlight as he gazed with disbelief at his fellow pilot.

"You gave her the ball?" he asked the obvious, his voice sounding incredulous.

Quatre shrugged as the coach's shrill whistle ended the game, five minutes too late, the blonde sighed.

Trowa walked up to them and his widening grin and mirthful silence spoke volumes......he was highly amused. He extended his hand to Duo, still on the ground, and hauled the smaller Deathscythe pilot up to his feet. Immediately, Duo's shoulders began to shake as Wufei walked up, shaking his head. 

"Bested by an onna." he snickered.

"Shut. Up!" the blonde demanded, then straightened his shoulders, held his head up, and left them behind as he walked single-mindedly toward the locker room door, hoping just to make it inside and hide in his locker for the rest of the day, and trying hard to ignore the stifled laughter as the three followed behind him. Heero silently joined him as the field slowly cleared, a sly grin on his face. Quatre gave him a warning glance and the Wing Pilot wisely withheld any comment as they continued on together. 

They walked only a few steps before Heero said in a droll manner. "You've got dog crap on your shoes."

Quatre looked down, and sure enough on his left tennis shoe was the offensive evidence of Heero's observation. "Well shit." he said disgustedly, and tried to scape it off on the grass.

"That's what I said." Heero snickered. It was obvious he was losing the battle to remain stoic today.

As he approached the boy's locker room door, he looked up sharply when he heard Brenna's voice calling loudly out to him the words he'd never live down. "Hey, Quin, stop, you're going the wrong way!" she pointed to the locker room, and all the girls around her burst into a hilarious laughter.

So much for asking her out, the voice in his head commented derisively.

"Can we transfer out tomorrow?" Quatre dismally asked Heero, his face turning a bright shade of pink, his shoulders slumped in defeat, as he looked up through his long blonde bangs to his friend.

With a crooked smile, Heero shook his head.

"Damn." he muttered. "Can this day get any worse?" he asked himself out loud as his exasperation carried him into the locker room where, after a moment of silence, the entire room of boys burst into laughter.

  
  


End

*This really happened to my sister, Brenna, at school. The poor guy will never live it down.*


	4. 4. Woo to Win, part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of G.W. nor it's characters. My stories are for my own entertainment, and no monetary profit is gained by them.

  
  


School Daze, Story 4

Woo to Win

By Dyna Dee

Warnings: groping.

  
  


Like a shadow, Quatre Winner, good-guy terrorist, gundam pilot, and heir to the Winner fortune, silently and with great caution followed behind a group of taller girls as he walked through the dreaded hallways, inwardly cursing his blond hair that seemed to act as a beacon, announcing his presence to those he hoped to avoid.

He'd been assigned the task of arriving first at this private school to begin acquiring an overview of it and its security, then begin a reconnaissance to map out the school grounds and dorms for possible exits and entrances for the purpose of stealth as they focused on a nearby factory and space port as possible targets. Duo was to arrive several days later to study the base ten miles south of the school and the factory within the city for layout and assess possible tactics for infiltration. 

The Arabian teen had read the brochure on this school, and noticed before his arrival an oddity in the stats. The school itself was small, roughly eight hundred students. The main population seemed to be females with only one-tenth the student population being male. That seemed unusual to him, but he shrugged it off. Maybe the curriculum offered appealed more to the female gender.

It took only a several hours on his first day of classes for him to come to a true understanding of the situation, fully learning the reason why there were so few males in attendance at the Romafeller Higher Institute of Learning. It was the girls.

He breathed a sigh of relief as the cluster of girls in front of him, unaware of his presence, walked right past his next class. He slipped through the doorway and into the relative safety of the group of eight boys tightly clustered together for safety near the door. He sighed as he slid into his seat, the other boy's surrounding him. If he made it through the day with his body and pride intact, it would be deemed a miracle. Somehow, using all his tactical abilities and skills he'd acquired from the other pilots, he did manage that goal.

Later that evening as he lay on his bed carefully mulling over his first day of school, he found himself re-evaluating himself. As a Winner, he'd had always prided himself on understanding women, well, as much as a male could, he mused. With twenty-nine sisters of varying personalities and temperaments, he'd learned varying techniques to help him get along with all of them. But whatever he thought he knew about women went flying out the dorm room window by the time he lay in his bed that night. His door was securely locked with his chair strategically propped under the door knob and at an angle to ensure his safety.

He breathed in a shaky breath as he brought his arm up to lay it over his forehead and eyes, trying to mentally block out the day he'd just experienced. Never in his life had he encountered so many hormonaly charged and aggressive females. From the moment he'd entered the cafeteria for breakfast that morning, he was discretely and overtly sexually harassed by most of the female student population.

After being pounced on, pinched, poked, prodded, kissed, groped and petted, he'd finally made it through the food line at breakfast. His shaking hands were barely holding onto the tray when one of the braver boys in the school seemed to steel himself enough to rise from the safety of the grouped males cowering in the corner of the room to appear at the shocked blonde boy's side. He took hold of his elbow and directed him to the relative safety of the other boys braving the cafeteria.

They quickly introduced themselves and in hushed voices and in urgent tones explained to him the eight rules to follow if he was to survive the "Sixth Ring of Hormonal Hell.", as they referred to the school.

1. Never be caught alone.

2. Never let your guard down.

3. Never encourage any of the girls.

4. Never give in to their demands.

5. Always be alert to your surroundings

6. Always travel in a group on campus

7. Always lock your doors and windows.

8. Always have an escape route planned out.

Four nevers and four always. Quatre realized these boys followed almost the same rules that he and his fellow pilots lived by, give or take a few. 

In the day that followed, he adhered to their guidelines as much as possible, but still hadn't been able to avoid the advances of the female students in the hallways or in the classes he attended when the teacher's attention was diverted. It was a living nightmare. He groaned out loud as another thought entered his mind, Duo was on his way. Duo, the natural born female magnet. He shuddered thinking about how the sexually aggressive girls would react to the strikingly handsome American.

On the other hand, he thought to himself and brightened considerably, Duo would know how to handle aggressive females. Duo could handle just about anyone. If he could manage the taciturn Wing Pilot, turning him from a foe to a friend, he could certainly handle rude females. He sighed deeply, both relieved at the thought of Duo's arrival and wary at the same time. Their was no way to warn the Deathscythe pilot of the situation he was coming into to. He just hoped he caught up to his friend on his arrival--before the girls did.

Four days later, during his third period class and as he sat in a huddled group of four nervous boys, Quatre looked up as the door to the classroom, adjacent to his desk, swiftly opened. Relief must have shown on his face as Duo, dressed neatly in the bland school uniform of grey slacks, white shirt and a grey tie, strolled into the class followed by Mrs. Callow, the official and stern looking Head Mistress. The blonde Arabian frowned, his eyes boring into the back of the woman who followed his friend to the front of the class. Though it was uncharacteristic of him, he'd taken an immediate dislike to the tall woman who was built like a tank and always wore a pasted on smile on her plain face that looked more like a sneer. A definite man hater if he'd judged correctly. He personally blamed her for the continuing harassment of the small male population still, and unfortunately, stuck in this school. He'd learned from the other unfortunates that most of the boys who entered the school managed to transfer out almost immediately after sizing up the situation. Those boy's still in attendance were on scholarship with no personal funds to transfer elsewhere to get the level of education that was offered here.

A collective gasp of appreciation followed by a few whistles and cat-calls were heard in the room full of girls whose eyes followed the long-haired teen as he sauntered up to the front of the class. Mrs. Callow handed a paper to the instructor of the class then turned to address the room. "We have a new student." she announced the obvious. "Mr. Shin S. Cummin. Please make him welcome to our school."

Quatre inwardly winced and groaned as Duo stood there, unknowingly damning himself as he flashed his most charming smile. The teacher's eyes scanned the full classroom, taking in the fact that the few boys that were in the class were grouped together with every desk around them filled by girls. She had no other recourse than to direct Duo to an empty desk on the opposite side of the room near the front left corner. Quatre groaned again in dismay, knowing Duo would be trapped moments after the class was over.

Before he sat down, Duo looked over in his direction and gave him a questioning look. "No doubt wondering why I look ready to piss in my pants.' Quatre thought to himself. The long haired boy took his seat and pulled a notepad and pen from out of his black backpack. The Arabian kept his eye on his unsuspecting friend during the remainder of the class. 

During that unbearably long hour, numerous notes were passed to the new boy, his braid was pulled and tugged on, spit wads and rubber bands hit his head and body, and the last straw was when the tie that held the thick braid together was pulled off and the chestnut colored mass was let loose. With anger flaring in his eyes, Duo jumped out of his seat with a loud squawk, as if shocked by something, and stood glaring at the girl sitting behind him wearing a cat-got-the-canary grin.

"Stop it!" he growled out in anger, his eyes flashing his irritation and his hand moved to his posterior.

"What's the matter, Mr. Cummin?" the teacher asked in a bored tone.

"She" Duo, red faced, pointed a shaking finger at the girl sitting in the desk behind him. "is......harassing me." he huffed, his cheeks pinking from embarrassment.

The other girls in the room clapped their hands in approval of Duo's thick and rich brown hair falling loose around him and at his obviously well-pinched bottom. The girl sitting directly behind him nodded her head blonde head in acceptance of the other girls' appreciation of her harassment of "The Looker", as was dubbed Duo's nickname. 

"That will be enough, Dorothy." Mrs. Haws sighed wearily as if she'd said the same thing numerous times only to be ignored. "Leave the boy alone."

Duo pulled his long hair forward and over his shoulder as he took his seat once again and rapidly began to re-braid it. He cautiously leaned over to pick up one of the rubber bands that had been shot at him moments before and wrapped it around the thick end of his re-braided hair, then left the long twisted rope securely draped across his chest for protection.

Quatre was satisfied that Duo was quick enough to figure something was going on as he watched him refused to accept any notes passed or to acknowledge the heated stares or whispered comments sent his way. Heero would be amazed to see that his hyperactive friend actually sat with his back ram-rod straight and his head remaining faced forward.

The bell rang signaling the end to the class, and the room seemed to burst with the sounds of chairs scraping back and the excited, high-pitched chatter of female voices as they converged on the soon to be trapped boy in the unguarded corner.

"Shin!" Quatre called out urgently, his hands cupped around his mouth to help his voice carry across the room. To his credit, Duo jumped onto his chair and then the desk top. He evaded the many hands reaching for him as he leapt from desktop to desktop to quickly reach the small group of boys huddled together as they prepared to brave the hallways. He jumped down from the last desk to land in front of the other guys and looked at the girls heading their way with a predatory gleam in their eyes.

"What gives with this place?" he asked frowning.

"Hello!" Quatre extended his hand to formally introduce himself. "I'm Win Quattrel."

"Shin." Duo answered distractedly watching the females advance. He forced himself to look away for a moment to make the acquaintance of the most skittish boys he'd ever met.

"We have a lot to tell you." Quatre took him by the elbow. "Welcome to Raging Hormone High, where the main focus of academia is sexual harassment."

Duo's eyes widened in shock as he was pulled to his next class, receiving at the same time the four Nevers and the four Always.

The two boys had to use all their training in avoiding detection and capture to make it through the day and the ever dangerous evening meal. They entered Quatre's room together, five doors down from Duo's, and both dropped down on the bed tired and weary from their stressful day.

"Oh man, Quatre, this is humiliating." Duo moaned as he brought both arms up to rub his eyes with the palm of his hand.

"You're telling me?" came a faint reply. "I've been here for four days now."

"Ya know, I was always taught that a guy should never hit a girl." Duo said thoughtfully, "but heaven help me, I'm tempted to smack almost all of them."

"Me, too." Quatre replied with weariness in his voice. "And as much as I'm tempted...I just can't do it. Hit them, I mean."

They lay for several moments in silence, each analyzing their current situation. Duo was the first to sit up and face his friend. "Alright," He began. "let's analyze this just like any other problem or obstacle we've faced on missions." he suggested.

Quatre propped himself up by his elbows and looked squarely at his friend. "Okay, let's see. Problem one: We have preliminary work to do for the mission before the others come, but we can't get to it because we have a hoard of aggressive females following our every move, not to mention assaulting us. Problem Two: We can't fight back." he said in frustration. "Problem three: None of the adults here seem to care what's going on, so, no help there." As he spoke the Sandrock Pilot's voice rose and was laced with the exasperation he felt at their current situation.

"Calm down, Quatre." the braided boy's voice sounded controlled yet sympathetic. "I need you to think rationally. You're the strategist here."

The blonde nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. "Now," Duo continued. "Let's just imagine for a moment that the female population here are Oz soldiers. We don't want to unnecessarily harm them, but the mission must proceed. How do we neutralize the threat to us in order to carry out our mission?"

Quatre's eyes narrowed and he chewed on the inside of his mouth as his mind worked to wrap itself around the problem. "First, we should determine if they operate as a group or individually." He suggested, his mind turning over ideas. "If there's a leader, we find her and take her down. We have more of a problem if they are acting independently." he added. "So we determine that, and then look for a weakness and capitalize on it. With the numbers against, we should incorporate the other guys at the school to join with us. More power in numbers." He looked up at his friend to see if he approved.

"Agreed." Duo said thoughtfully and nodded his head. "And if the teachers are willing to ignore the girls abuse towards us, maybe they'll ignore anything we might have to do to protect ourselves."

Just then, a ping sounded on the window pane. Then several others followed.

"Ignore it." Quatre advised. "They're throwing pebbles to get our attention.

Duo raised his finely arched eyebrows questioningly.

"They want us to come out and 'play'." the blonde answered the look with a look of disgust on his face. "I've never in my life seen females behave so....unladylike." he added with a grimace.

"Well, it's certainly unusual. "Duo agreed. "I use to think I'd like an aggressive girl, but I think my experiences today have changed my mind."

They looked up at each other for a moment as the pebbles continued to glance harmlessly off the window. Slowly, a smile grew on the American's face causing the other to mirror it, though he didn't know exactly why. A low chuckle grew. "Damn, Quatre. This could only happen to us. Can you imagine the others in this situation?"

Quatre nodded, grinning widely at the idea. "Wufei would us his katana to keep them at a distance, Heero, his death glare and gun, and Trowa would somersault out of a tight situation with his knives coming out, threatening any advancement on the girls' part."

"Which leaves us what?" Duo asked raising one eyebrow in question, his eyes sparkling with humor.

"Charm, good looks, and Maguanacs." the blonde chortled.

"That's true." Duo laughed, his humor fully restored by the light banter. "But you forget money, stealth, thievery and wicked intentions." he waggled his eyebrows at the last.

"Hum, I like that. Wicked intention, huh?" Quatre smiled crookedly. "What have you got in mind?"

"Let's take tomorrow to analyze the girls' hierarchy, that is if there is one. Then we'll know how to handle the situation."

They continued to be cautious as the next day advanced, yet more keenly observant of the more aggressive girls to see if they acted alone or as a group.

At the lunch table, questions were asked and answered in hushed tones as the two pilots shared the information they had gleaned from their observations that morning with the other highly interested boys at their table.

To analyze the situation further, the two pilots set themselves up for a test of their burgeoning analysis. After lunch, they purposely walked down opposite sides of the busy corridor alone, without the protection of the other boys, making themselves vulnerable. This vulnerability was immediately noticed by many of the girls walking in their vicinity and they were quickly converged upon. The whole scene had been planned, Quatre was to play the part of being frightened but defiant, while Duo would flirt and be forward. The reactions of the girls would be carefully scrutinized later. 

The blonde teen found himself backed against a wall, surrounded by six aggressive females with a predatory look gleaming in their eyes. They reached out with questing hands to touch his hair, skin, and clothing to which he immediately smacked their hands away, telling them to leave him alone and to behave themselves. Their laughter filled the corridor as the moving mass around them slowed their course to their next class to watch what was happening. A redhead took the initiative to bring herself flush against his body and watched his eyes for a reaction. He felt someone reach behind him to give him a painful pinch on his right bottom cheek. Quatre struggled to loosen the redhead from off his body when someone mentioned the time, and the crowd quickly retreated away from him as the onlookers rushed to make it to class on time. The girls around him turned reluctantly to leave, promising to have another go at him some other time.

Likewise, Duo had been backed against the opposite wall as Quatre. The girls approached and he quickly analyzed each one. A brunette a bit taller than himself put herself in front of the others and looked to be the girl the rest took their cue from as she drew close to him, the others clearly backing her actions. He noted that she was quite pretty as his back hit the wall and she continued forward until her body was pressed up closer to his body, more than invading his personal space. Her hand reached out to him and he swiftly intercepted it by bringing his hands up to grab her upper arms pulled her forward, bringing her forcefully to his chest. She was just several inches taller than he was, and surprised enough by his move not to resist when he pulled her head down and then kissed her fully on the lips.

Gasps from the girls standing behind their friend were heard as he thoroughly explored her lips while holding her firmly in place as she began to struggle to pull away. He continued with his lip assault until he felt her slump against him, then her let her go, allowing her to step away. The brown haired, pony-tailed girl stumbled back away from the long haired boy, her fingers touching her bruised lips, her eyes wide in confusion. Duo observed the other girls who stared at him with a variety of expressions: shock, surprise, disgust, and indignance. The Deathscythe Pilot straightened himself from off the wall and gave them all a piercing look. "I choose her." he stated boldly to the group of wide-eyed girls while pointing to the just-kissed girl. "If you touch or bother me anymore, you'll be betraying your friend." He grinned as he saw the message had sunk in and the girls surrounding him looked to their silent friend. Her eyes were still on him but now wide with stunned disbelief and shock.

"Are you alright, Jackie?" one of her friends asked in a whisper. 

"She's fine." Duo answered with a leer.

"W..why did you do that?" Jackie asked in a shaky whisper.

Duo gave her a lopsided grin. "That was just a preview of what I've got in store for you, dearie." he said as a warning and gave her his best villainous look.

"Gotta go. See ya." she mumbled and quickly fled down the hallway with the group of disbelieving girls close in tow.

Looking about with an air of satisfaction at the crowd-thinning corridor, Duo's eyes lit on Quatre's wary face and gave him a reassuring grin. With a new found confidence, he strolled over to his friend. "I've got it!" He announced quietly with a knowing grin as he approached the other pilot. He took in the blondes rumpled appearance and frowned. "You okay?" he asked.

The Arabian nodded. "I'm fine, Shin." he answered quietly. "Frightened but defiant seemed to spear them on." he reported as he straightened his jacket and tie. "That was humiliating." he muttered.

"Well, buddy," the braided boy put his arm comfortingly around his friend's shoulder as he turned to lead him to their next class. "The tables are about to be turned." he chuckled. "Aggressively assertive worked like a charm. I think the four Nevers and the four Always are about to be retired."

Quatre looked aside at his friend as they walked, and a smile grew on his face at Duo's confidence, knowing that from the look on his friend's face, that he had indeed figured out a solution to their current dilemma.

That evening, in the cafeteria, the boys reported their observations and together they were able to identify the five main cluster of girls that seem to determine the negative, aggressive climate at the school, and determined that each group had a leader. The largest and notoriously provoking group was led by Dorothy Catalonia, a pretentious girl with long blonde hair. As the other boy's pointed her out, Duo recognized her immediately as the girl that sat behind him in class on the first day who had constantly picked on and pinched him. His poor braid had been her favorite target.

"She needs a serious deflating of that ego of hers," he growled out. "not to mention a serious plucking job." he alluded to her unusually thick blonde eyebrows.

Being brought back to the subject at hand, Duo turned back to tell the others of his tactical move that afternoon with Jackie. "This is all about power, not lust." he told the eager listeners. He explained to them how he'd claimed Jackie and the reaction of herself and the girls in her clique to his boldness. "If each one of you guys approach the other groups and apply the same tactics, the results should be similar." he assured them. "Girls usually follow the rule of "Hands Off" when it comes to someone's boyfriend."

He turned to his fellow pilot. "Win, you take on Catalonia."

The blonde's eyes widened in horror. "No way, Shin." he exclaimed.

"Come on, buddy." Duo chided the other. "You've got enough sisters that you should know how to handle one strong willed girl."

"I'm the youngest sibling." Quatre replied, doubt written across his face and posture. "I don't have a lot of experience with commanding or bullying them."

Duo raised a dubious brow. "Then I suggest you learn now, buddy." he snorted. Amongst this group of desperate boys, only the Deathscythe pilot knew just how many sisters Quatre had. As the sole male heir, future head of the Winner Corporation, and overseer of his family, he would be in serious trouble if he couldn't deal with aggressive females at home or in the business world.

The blue/violet eyes scanned the anxious faces around him, and he could see the self-doubt clearly visible on many of them. He sighed deeply. "Alright!" he put his hands up taking control once again and accepting the task before him. "I'll tell you how to go about it, then you have gotta have the balls to pull it off." He was pleased to see everyone nod their head in agreement, their faces showing a sense of eager desperateness to end the tyranny they'd suffered. That night, the entire group of boys went to bed with the hope that the next day would bring the much needed change to their current miserable existence. It was desperation that spurred them to commit mutiny at Hormone High. 

To say that the female population was taken aback by the sudden change in the boys they'd wielded power over for so long, would be a gross understatement. One by one, the boys, who for the first time since they'd arrived at the school, purposely walked alone and not in protective units. They followed Shin's suggestions and each one staked a claim on the most prominent girl in whatever group of girls advanced on them.

Duo continued his wooing assault on Jackie, the brunet he'd kissed the day before, and insinuated himself into her life. He sat next to her at meals, took hold of her books to carry them for her, freed her hair from it ponytail telling her he liked it better down, escorted her to all of her classes, and dominated their conversations. He basically took over her life during school hours. The other boys were ever observant of his actions and followed his example. It was undeniably amazing to them all how the other girls in the cliques gave the boy and his new-found girlfriend room and distance from the formerly tight knit group. Shin was hailed a genius and their savior.

Yet the hero of the small group of boys watched with a cautious eye as his fellow pilot nervously but determinedly approached Dorothy. Catalonia's circle of friends slowly spread out as he drew near and the usual taunts and teasing were thrown at him.

"I wish to talk to Dorothy." Quatre announced pleasantly. Several girls in the large group of girls moved and parted before him to reveal the blonde, long-haired girl in the middle of their numbers. Her face bore the look of bored cynicism as she raised a haughty eyebrow at his approach.

"Hello, Dorothy." Quatre said politely with a slight bow of his head eliciting snickers and giggles around him.

"Hello, Win." she answered, her voice, though even and smooth, managed to sound a bit sinister. Her blue eyes stared intently into his and the corners of her thin lipped mouth curved up as if she anticipated his next move.

"Dorothy," he began again as he stepped forward to stand directly in front of her. "Unless you absolutely abhor the idea....,"

Duo, standing within viewing distance and carefully listening, smacked himself on the forehead with his open palm as he heard his friend's words. "Always gotta give them a chance to retreat." he moaned under his breath, yet kept his eyes and ears tuned to Quatre's words and actions.

"you're my girl." Moving just a half step forward, he reached both hands up to the girls head bringing her face forward and brought his lips to hers, sealing the deal.

"Way to go, Romeo." Duo crowed to himself at seeing his friend take charge of the situation. He instantly swallowed the thought as Dorothy reached forward, one arm wrapping around the slender boy's shoulder and the other came to encircle his waist, and then quickly leaned forward and to the side, swinging the Arabian backwards, dipping him for a deeper kiss and effectively showing him who was in charge. Almost instantly, the hand around his waist moved, inching forward to the front of his pants to cop a feel. Duo winced as the cry of alarm that came from the blonde, startled boy was so high in pitch, it could had qualified him for the vacant soprano slot open in the girl's choir. Quatre's legs went out from underneath him in a defensive move, landing him on his back on the hard linoleum floor. Unfortunately for him, Dorothy went down with him, falling directly on top of his body in a highly suggestive manner and forcing the air out of his lungs.

Extract, was the word that came to the stunned American's mind as he viewed what was happening to his friend. He took hold of Jackie's arm and pulled the reluctant girl after him as he made his way to his friend. Laughter and giggles surrounded them as they moved forward. Duo's eyes met Quatre's, wide with horror at his current predicament. Dorothy was still on top of him and looked like she was in no hurry to remove herself from off his person. In fact, she moved her hands to both sides of the startled boy's face and lowered her head for another kiss, the girls around her cheering her on.

As he came to his friend's side, Duo reached down and grabbed hold of Dorothy's upper arm and roughly pulled her up and off of his helpless friend. Quatre scrambled up to his feet and quickly moved to stand behind his rescuer.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Catalonia?" Duo demanded, scowling at the girl who calmly righted herself and stood with a smirk on her face that he was sorely tempted to wipe off.

Dorothy casually pushed some of her long hair over her shoulder in a manner of casual indifference. "He started it." she smirked. "And, after all," she winked at the blushing blonde boy over Duo's shoulder. "all's fair in love and war."

"That's what you think." Duo glared back. "There ain't nothing fair in either love or war."

Dorothy raised her eyebrows in interest. "My, my, Mr. Cummin, that's a very cynical statement, one that I believe I'd like to explore further with you." She brought up her perfectly manicured nails to inspect them. "I have quite a few theories myself on subjects of love, war, peace, and power. It might prove interesting to exchange.....our thoughts." She raised up one eyebrow to indicate she meant more than just that.

"Sorry, babe, but I'm taken." the boy she knew as Shin declared and pulled the hesitant looking Jackie forward to stand by his side. "Isn't that right, honey?" he asked the girl now standing at his side without letting his eyes wander from his opponent.

"I...I guess so." Jackie stammered.

Dorothy studied the boy before her with a critical eye, and then more quickly the obviously rattled girl. Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she slowly smiled knowingly at him. "Nice tactical move, Mr. Cummin. It's actually been quite a long time since anyone has proven to be a challenge to me. This might be very interesting, indeed. A delightful distraction amongst the very mundane atmosphere at this school and the other insipid males."

"You have no idea what your up against." he leaned forward and hissed in a tone of warning, his eyes narrowing with a silent threat that had proved effective when he'd faced with Oz soldiers.

"I'm afraid you don't scare me Shin Cummin." she laughed lightly as if to prove it.

"Maybe not." Duo pulled back as he thoughtfully observed her and noticed once again her thick bushy blonde eyebrows. "But you must be terrified by a tweezers."

Dorothy's eyes narrowed at the unexpected assault on her physical appearance.

Duo smiled knowingly having seen her slight reaction. "I don't scare easily either," he replied. "but by the colonies, those eyebrows of yours are enough to scare the Generals of Oz into pissing their uniforms."

It was a low blow, but he was rewarded by a slight drop of Dorothy's jaw. She caught herself and gave him her most evil glare.

"You, Mr. Cummin, are an uncouth, uncivilized, ill mannered, low begotten....brat!" she declared with definitely more than a touch of anger seeping through her practiced and controlled appearance of calm.

Duo leaned forward, his cheek brushed along side hers as he whispered into her ear, a smug smile of satisfaction growing on his face as he felt her slight flinch. "I'm the son of the devil himself, Miss Dorothy. Have a care on whose toes you tread on." He slowly pulled back and his eyes met hers once more in a challenge. "Besides," he continued. "if what you just did to my friend, Win, was well-mannered, couth, and civilized, then you, sister, are reading out of the wrong etiquette book." Then with a quick turn, he grabbed Jackie and Quatre by their elbows and led them through the large crowd that had gathered around to watch with their undivided attention the scene that had just played out before them.

The hallway, which had become silent during their confrontation, now erupted in a cacophony of voices as the entire student body spread the news faster than a prairie fire of Shin Cummin's threat of a coup.

  
  


TBC


	5. part 2, A Strange Way to Woo

Woo to Win

By: Dyna Dee

Warning: slight language

Part 2

A half hour later, in the confines of Quatre's room, the blonde boy sat on his bed, his legs crossed in front of him as he looked up apologetically through his long bangs at his friend who was pacing in an agitated manner before him.

"Damn it, Quatre," the American continued in an exasperated tone. "you blew it right after hello."

"I'm sorry." the blonde replied, his voice and shoulders slumping in a defeated manner. "I tried, really I did. But honestly Duo, I was brought up to never be physically aggressive or overly assertive with females. My sisters have drilled it into my mind since I was an infant that they are my equal and deserved as much respect as any male. At all times, I am expected to treat them or any girl or woman as a gentleman should. Those lessons are deeply ingrained, and......I just couldn't shrug them off."

The Deathscythe's pilot's pace slowed and he thoughtfully observed his friend as he explained his actions. It made sense to him now and his agitation with the blond dissipated. "That's okay, Quatre." he said much more softly. "Just forget about it. I should have taken your good manners into consideration. But truthfully, I never expected Dorothy to act as boldly as she did. She managed to shock even me." he gave a slight smile to his friend who managed to return it, albeit a bit more shaky.

The Deathscythe pilot walked over to the window and looked down on the lawns below. The sun was moving lower towards the horizon and only a few students were walking around the school grounds. "We just need to change things around a bit, that's all." he muttered out loud to himself.

Quatre looked up quizzically. "You've got another idea?" he asked, hoping he could avoid another public confrontation with the dreadful blonde girl.

Duo nodded then turned with a knowing smile. "You and I need to change girlfriends."

"What?" Disbelief was clearly evident on Quatre's face.

Duo smirked. "You'll take Jackie on as a girlfriend, and I'll take Dorothy....as a challenge. Ya gotta fight fire with fire." he added with a chuckle, his eyes glistening at the thought of the battle ahead of him. Damn, he loved a challenge.

He would never admit it, but the pilot of Sandrock, the feared and mighty gundam, was almost faint with relief. The rules of battle generally followed that if you were in way over your head in a battle and losing ground, you retreat to fight another day. He admitted to himself that he'd definitely lost the first skirmish with Dorothy. "Won't Jackie mind?" he asked shyly.

Duo turned his head and smirked. "Nah," he shrugged and chuckled. "she's scared to death of me. But I think I've broken her in enough for you to handle. Still," he continued on thoughtfully, resting his fists on his hips. "you'll need to be firm and demanding with her or she'll try a Dorothy tactic on you."

Quatre nodded. He would follow Duo's instructions to the letter in this matter. He didn't want to go through another public humiliation anytime in the near future.

"I'll give you Jackie's class schedule in the morning." Duo offered offhandedly. "Make a demanding pest of yourself, it works with her." he smiled like a wily fox.

"I'll try." Quatre answered worriedly, hoping he could pull it off and not let his friend down.

In a voice mimicking the voice of Yoda, Duo replied. "No. There is no try, only do."

The blonde pilot smiled genuinely now. Duo had made them all watch that series of old movie classics over and over. "Good overcomes evil." Duo explained as the main reason for watching them excessively. By now, all the pilots knew the lines by heart and Duo was a perfect mimic for Yoda and Darth Vader.

The Deathscythe pilot began his campaign to conquer Dorothy first thing in the morning at breakfast. The girl in question was already seated at her regular table surrounded by her friends. With his tray easily balanced on his left hand, he used his right arm to quickly encircle the waist of the girl seated to the left and next to the long-haired blonde, and unceremoniously lifted her up from off the seat and set her on her feet.

"Sorry." he said sounding unapologetic. "I'm sitting there."

Dorothy turned her head to glare at him as he took the newly vacated seat.

"Morning blondie." he smiled brightly at her and before she could react, his hand shot out and cupped the back of her head, holding it still, while he moved forward to briefly kiss her cheek. He quickly released her and pulled back a safe distance still smiling. "Don't you look...preppy today?" he said sweetly.

"What are you doing, Shin?" She hissed, her eyes narrowed as she seethed.

"Why, I'm sitting next to the most intelligent and pragmatic girl in school." he replied and then winked at her.

She recognized his tactic of using flattery, strange as his seemed, as something she often used herself. "I thought you said I was scary.' she replied warily as she turned back to the food on her tray.

"Oh, definitely scary." he agreed as he took a piece of toast from off her tray and took a large bite. "But I'm pretty scary, too." he continued with his mouth full of smashed bread. "So I guess we're a perfect match."

"Flattery and your puffed up ego will get you nowhere, Shin." Dorothy replied snidely.

Duo chuckled. "But persistence has its own rewards, ne?" 

"You can't beat me at this game, you know." Dorothy said confidently and straightened her posture to show her resolve.

"Really?" The long haired boy managed to say though his mouth was now filled with scrambled eggs and toast. He chewed happily with a deranged type of smile, and no attempt to keep his mouth closed as he chewed, knowing it would repulse her.

Dorothy shared a look of disgust with her girlfriends and was totally unprepared when the rude boy next to her grabbed a hold of her hair, turned her head, and soundly kissed her squarely on the lips in front of all the stunned diners in the cafeteria.

Dorothy frantically pressed her spread out hands against his chest and pushed, hard. With no little effort on her part, she managed to break away from the forward boy's grip on her. Her eyes were wide in shock as she gazed angrily at the braided boy who was smiling triumphantly next to her, his partially chewed breakfast disgustingly visible.

She immediately wiped the back of her hand across her face and was horrified to find pieces of egg left on her hand. "You are repulsive Shin Cummin." she spat out as he reached for her napkin.

"Yeah." he chuckled after he'd swallowed a good portion of the wad of food in his mouth. "But you loved it. I can tell. And guess what sugar?" he chuckled. "I'm all yours!"

"Che!" was all the girl managed to say as she shook her head in disdain. "Your delusional." she grumbled as she moved to stand and leave the table.

"Like you, my cupcake." Duo gushed, his smile broadening as the girl he'd targeted sneered at his words.

With a huff, Dorothy stood and lifted her tray as she prepared to leave. She climbed out from the bench and paused for only a slight second as an evil thought came to mind and the glint in her eye matched it. Without hesitating, she up-ended her tray, dumping it's remaining contents onto the head of the boy she was coming to despise, then turned to quickly leave.

The area around them came to a complete halt as the boy stiffened. All eyes were on him as he calmly stood, ignoring the mess now resting on his head and shoulders, and followed with his tray behind Dorothy as she made her way to the bin for dirty dishes. She deposited her tray and turned to see Shin by her side, holding onto his long braid as he shook the loose food from his hair into the garbage receptacle. If she was expecting him to hurl his plate of food at her, she was disappointed as he then dumped the leftover food into the garbage can and looked up at her with an infuriating smile.

"I'll walk you to class." he announced calmly, food still in his hair and spots on his once white shirt.

"Like hell you will." she hissed, her blue eyes narrowing in warning.

"Like hell I will!" he replied with a forceful determination. He grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her resisting body to her first class.

It seemed as if the entire school watched with a morbid fascination as the tenacious, long-haired boy dogged the unpleasant girl's heels for the remainder of the day. She snapped, snarled, jeered, and ridiculed him to her heart's content only to have the vexing boy take her harsh words and, in return, deliver stinging barbs of his own with a dazzling grin plastered on his face as if he were thoroughly enjoying himself.

Duo walked with a sure and confident step to the dorms after the evening meal. He felt he'd had a rather successful first day in his wooing attack on Dorothy. From what he was hearing, she was showing more emotions then she had ever displayed in front of others before, and it had been all his doing. He snickered at the thought, but he had to give the girl credit, she was good at being "a bitch". His brows creased in thought as he wondered what it was that had made her so angry. Someone or something must have really hurt her to make her so miserable. She wasn't always that way, he'd observed. With her girlfriends, she was patronizingly kind and overly flattering. He decided that was her decided strategy to keep the group of devoted girls surrounding her, willing to follow her every whim. A different tactic for a leader, but not unheard of.

As he approached the dorms, the other boys flocked to him with thumping slaps on his back in approval and jubilation. In a twenty-four hour period of time, the whole mood of the school had changed, leaving the boys feeling more secure and confident and the girls confused, even dazed.

Finally making it to his room, Duo escaped the others to flop onto his bed face down. Quatre followed him into his room and shut the door behind them. 

"Man, that was tiring!" Duo mumbled into his pillow as he yawned and let his buoyant facade drop.

"But you did great, Duo." Quatre sat on the end of the bed. "I'm truly impressed." he continued his voice depicting his sense of awe. "I don't think any one here could have handled Dorothy as well as you did today."

The American shrugged and looked over at his blonde friend. "How'd things go with Jackie?" he asked, turning over to his back so he could look at his friend's face more easily.

Quatre shrugged. "Okay, I guess. I think you did indeed softened her up a bit as I think she actually likes me." he blushed shyly.

"No kidding?" his friend smiled with amusement.

The Arabian chuckled. "I think after your strong-arm approach, I look like a spring picnic."

"Did you kiss her like I told you to?" Duo asked, his manner became more serious.

The blonde blushed a deeper shade of pink. "Well, actually..." he paused pinking even further.

"You did, didn't you?" Duo's asked and then a bark of laughter followed at his friends bashfulness. "Did you?" he asked again, then gave his friend a knowing look. "And you liked it, didn't you?"

Seeing his friend's only answer was going to be the deeper shade of red on his fair cheeks, Duo smiled, deciding the Arabian couldn't take much more teasing. "Good for you, Quatre. You need to do a little more socializing."

"Did you kiss Dorothy?" the blonde quickly changed the focus of the conversation away from himself and back to Duo.

The braided boy gave a nonchalant shrug. "Several times." he answered. "Frankly, her lips are a bit too thin for my tastes and talk about stiff," he visibly shuddered. "and her personality is like the Antarctic cold."

"I'm sure you can thaw her out, Duo." his friend smiled with confidence. He couldn't imaging anyone resisting Duo's charms for too long, especially when he poured it on.

"I don't think so, Quatre." Duo replied bringing his arms up to place them behind his head. "That's not my objective here. I don't really like the girl, though she's a challenge. There's just something.........disturbing about her."

"And this coming from "the God of Death"? Quatre raised a blonde eyebrow quizzically.

"Touche'" Duo grinned back. "But I really don't want to hurt her." He continued thoughtfully. "I think she's been hurt before. Yet, I can't let her attitude affect everyone else in such a negative way. It's just wrong."

"I agree." Quatre patted his friend's are in a reassuring manner. "If you need any help....any of the guys are willing, and so is Jackie."

"Jackie?" Duo asked in disbelief. "She said that?" He'd semi-terrorized the girl and couldn't imagine she'd want to help him out with anything that might be of benefit to him.

Quatre nodded. "She's pretty bright," he smiled. "and she hates Dorothy. Evidently, your girlfriend has not only made the boys miserable, but some of the girl who challenged her in some way. She told me she'd love to see you take her down a notch or two."

"Well, well!" Duo smiled. "Whoda thunk? I'll keep that in mind, Quatre. Thanks."

It became obvious the next morning that Dorothy had come up with a strategy of her own to counteract Shin's aggressive behavior towards her. As The long-haired American came into the cafeteria for breakfast, the object of his wooing was tightly surrounded by her girlfriends. Seeing he wasn't going to be able to remove the girls sitting next to her as easily had he had the day before, he settled for pulling her hair aside and began nibbling on her soft, ivory neck until Dorothy turned quickly and let her clenched fist hit her amorous assailant in the nose. Immediately following and continuing throughout the day, other girls seemed to come out of the woodwork to harass him. He was tripped by swift moving legs at every turn, and unseen hands pulled his hair and pinched then twisted his skin. Even slightly protected by his clothing it hurt, and soon his body was beginning to ache all over from the many bruises that were forming from the abuse. He was losing his patience quickly when the last straw occurred in fourth period, his P.E. class. Duo played along with his classmates in an intense and closely matched game of volleyball. As the ball was being set up on the other side of the net, and all on his team had their eyes and bodies in readiness for the return over the net, Dorothy appeared from out of nowhere and pants him, leaving him for a stunned a mere second, clad in only his jock strap and tee-shirt, his elastic-waist gym shorts puddled around his ankles.

With a bright red face, he quickly bent and pulled up his shorts and turned in time with a scowl to see Dorothy fleeing with a backward glance, a smug grin on her face.

"That's it!" he shouted in her direction. "This means war, Catalonia. Shinigami won't rest until you've been punished!"

The rest of the day proceeded for the beleaguered boy in much the same way as the morning, with the exception of having all the girls in the school turn to laugh openly and behind their hands as he walked through the hallways and snicker in the classrooms. It seemed forever for it to happen, but there finally came an end to that long and torturous day. Duo set out from his last class and went directly to where Quatre and Jackie were standing by her locker.

"I need your help." Duo said to the dark haired girl. His facial features and tone of voice stating his seriousness. She looked startled for a second at his changed demeanor, but then nodded her head in agreement.

"How many girls hate Dorothy?" he asked her.

Jackie smiled. "Tons."

Duo's devilish smile chilled the Sandrock pilot as he watched the exchange. He momentarily felt almost sorry for the girl, for without a doubt, he knew Dorothy was in for it now.

As the sun rose the next morning, so did Dorothy Catalonia's bras and matching panties, up the flag pole and across the large doorway to the cafeteria. Her face burned bright red as she snatched them down, ripping most of the satin material as they had been fastened to the wood frame by simple thumb tacks.

Duo, looking as innocent as he could, went to give her his planned morning greeting and "accidentally" spilled his large glass of orange juice he carried in his hand as she swung around to swat at him just as his lips touched her cheek.

She was late to class as she'd had to re-shower and dress again due to the stickiness caused by the juice that had spilled over her shoulder and down the front of her white blouse and grey skirt. The instructor frowned at her as she entered the room well after the class had started and handed her a detention slip. He then instructed her to hand in her homework and open her book. To her dismay, her assignment had slipped out of the folder and lay crumpled at the bottom of her satchel, and to make things worse, a tube of lipstick had lost it's cap and smeared across the paper. With an un-ladylike growl, she placed the paper on her desk and tried to straighten it out before handing the sorry-looking assignment to her teacher.

"Sloppy work, Miss Catalonia." he said with a look of disapproval as she quickly turned and literally stomped her way back to her desk noticing as she went that her fellow students seemed to be gleefully enjoying her disastrous morning.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped at a couple of snickering girls as she flung herself into her seat, wincing as a few strands of her long hair got caught on a loose screw at the back of her seat and pulled tightly at her scalp. Twisting at an odd angle, she managed to free the strands without damaging her hair.

"Any time your ready, Miss Catalonia." The teacher's voice droned and she looked up to see Mr. Harrigan and all the class waiting for her to face the front of the class. She reached for her satchel and removed the history book and opened it, or at least, tried to open it. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw that something had spilled on the outside edge of the pages and had bound them all together as it had dried. It would take going page by page very carefully to ease them apart. She jumped in her seat as her eyes looked up to see the older man standing by her desk, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows hooded his dark perturbed eyes, a frown pulled down the corners of his mouth. She swallowed hard under that stern look of disapproval.

The rest of the day proved equally frustrating. She instinctively knew Shin Cummin was behind all her misfortunes, starting with the public display of her bras and panties, every misdeed and frustration had been subtly crafted and none of it pointed directly at the braided, infuriating boy as the cause. Nevertheless, she knew....she was on the wrong end of pay back.

Her P.E. class was the last class of the day and, for some perplexing reason, her locker wouldn't open. The instructor frowned as she got the master key to open it. Of course, when she did finally opened the metal door, it was to find her gym clothes were wet from an apparent self-explosion of her aerosol deodorant. She reached up and pulled at the roots of her long blonde hair on both sides of her scalp, and howled out her frustration. She had no choice but to dress for class in the wet, lilac scented gym shirt, shorts, socks and shoes, all of which felt horrible against her skin.

"Need some help, Dorothy?"

The angry and frustrated girl, nostrils flaring and eyes narrowed dangerously, glared at Jackie who was leaning casually against a locker about six feet from her own highly fragrant self.

"Coach wondered what was taking you so long and sent me to find you." The dark hair girl explained her presence.

"I'm coming." Dorothy snarled, knowing she would either be docked points or get yet another detention. She sat on the bench opposite her locker and began to tie her damp tennis shoes.

A cry of alarm escaped her as she was suddenly grabbed from behind. She blinked in surprise and astonishment to see no less than eight girls surrounding her as they pushed her down to lie on her back on the bench, pinning her arms and legs down.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at them.

"Get Shin." Jackie called out to some unknown person. Dorothy's eyes widened at the sound of the boy's name, then quickly scanned the faces about her, analyzing her situation. She recognized all of them as girls she'd been less than charming to over the last year. She knew who was loyal to her and none of these girls fit into that category.

"You better let me go, if you know what's good for you." she threatened. The girls above her looked about the locker room, obviously feeling uncertain until footsteps drew near. She swallowed nervously as she had an idea of what and who was coming. The girls shifted, though they made sure their hold on her remained secure, and the figure of the boy she'd come to detest appeared above her, a devilish grin on his handsome face. 

"Well, hello again, Dorothy." Shin said cheerfully.

"You're behind all this, Shin." she accused him between her gritted teeth. "You are in so much trouble." She noticed for the first time that he held in his hands a jar that looked similar to a jar of facial cream, a couple of cotton swabs, and a couple of small white strips of cloth.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head as a sign of disapproval. "I thought the unspoken rule was to keep this between us. You gonna squeal like the proverbial little piggy?" he chided her.

Her narrow lips pressed together. "I hate you!" she snarled.

Shin smiled down at her. "I know....the feelings mutual, you know."

She watched warily as he unscrewed the lid to the jar and handed the top to someone behind him.

"What are you going to do?" she asked angrily, trying to hide the worry she felt. "You better not touch my hair." she warned.

"Don't worry." he assured her, obviously distracted as he stuck the tip of the cotton swab into the container. "You didn't do anything to my hair, so your safe there."

She watched as he slowly brought the immersed tip up and saw that it was coated with a tick green substance that pulled like a stringy, clear gelled taffy from the jar, giving the appearance that it was reluctant to be withdrawn.

"What the hell?" she said out loud, her eyes never leaving the green substance.

"Ever since we met, Dorothy, I've felt an undeniable urge to help you out." Shin said and shrugged with a laze smile on his face. "Call me altruistic."

"I highly doubt that." she sneered as he finally managed to separate the glob from the container and twirled the stringy remains around the tip until it all fit on the small end of the once white cotton.

"Jackie?" Shin gave the dark haired girl a knowing look and she immediately took hold of the captured girl's head and held it still.

"Now, just hold still. This is not suppose to hurt at all." The braided boy informed her as his hand holding the green blobbed swab lowered it to her face. Just as it disappeared above her line of vision, she managed to jerk her head and at the same time felt the cool jell smear across the skin in the area of her left eyebrow. 

"Oh damn." Shin's smile faded as he frowned in disappointment. "Now you've done it." He took a deep thoughtful breath and huffed it out. After a moment, a lazy grin reappeared on his face and he shrugged casually. "Guess I'll just have to even it out on the other side." he reasoned out loud.

Once again, he dipped the swab into the thick green substance and repeated the same extraction process as he'd done moments before. The thick gelatinous glob on the stick hovered over her face.

"What are you doing Shin?" Dorothy demanded as she tried to move away, but the hands on her held her even more firmly.

"Okay, Jackie....it's imperative that you hold her still. Very still." Shin told the girl next him and gave her a severe look of earnestness. This time, as his hand lowered, the boy's concentration was evident as his pink tongue stuck out and curved up at the corner of his mouth and his eyes narrowed as he aimed for a precise placement of the glob on the exact same spot as it had accidently landed on the other eyebrow. 

The wet, cool substance was smeared on, and the boy above her smiled as he drew back, his task, whatever it was, had evidently been accomplished to his satisfaction.

"Okay, now...." he handed the jar to the person behind him and pulled out the two rectangular pieces of cloth and firmly pressed each one down on top of the goo. His eyes met Dorothy's. "Alright, on three." he warned.

"What? What's on three?" she asked alarmed.

"One..., two....., three." On that number he quickly pulled one of the strips of cloth up and towards the center of her face and Dorothy screamed at the feeling of hair being quickly ripped out.

"Damn, that hurt!" her eyes watered in reaction to the moment of pain.

Shin's brows drew together. "Sorry." he even looked apologetic. "It said on the box it wasn't suppose to hurt."

"Well, it did!" she snapped back, although now that he was finished, there was hardly any trace of the tearing pain she'd felt.

"Then I apologize in advance," he said. "Because I have to take the other one off." He reached over to the other piece of cloth that partially blocked her vision.

"One..., three" he quickly pulled off the other before she could tense up too much.

Dorothy couldn't help the yelp that escaped at the repeated process.

Standing above her, the boy took a moment to admire his handy work. A slow smile spread across his face. "Different." he mused. "But I think I like it. It suits you." he declared, looking almost boastful at his piece of art.

"Coach is coming." a voice from the other side of the room hissed out in warning.

"Get going, Shin." Jackie told him, and in a flash, the long braided demon disappeared from sight. The girls remaining instantly released Dorothy and scattered, leaving the confused girl to get herself up from off the hard bench.

"Catalonia." a deep female voice barked from the gym door. "You've got detention at this point."

"Yes, Mam." Dorothy groaned as she slipped on her shoes. She ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror and gasped at her reflection. Her eyebrows rose in alarm at what she saw, then lowered in anger. Slowly, though, they eased as did her frown. She turned to the left side to view her face, then slowly moved to the right. She waggled her brows and practiced a variety of expressions. A slow, pleased smile began to curve upward. "Wow!" she whispered in awe to herself and turning, she ran out to join the class.

Having decided he'd probably done enough to get even with the aggravating blonde terror known as Dorothy, Duo Maxwell avoided any further confrontation with her that day. He figured he'd done enough to get back at her for pantsing him. Frankly, he was now feeling nervous at what her retaliation would be. She was a fairly unpredictable opponent. 

Distracted as he was, he held his history book open and attempted to pour over that night's assignment. His head shot up at a sharp knock at his door, recognizing it as not being Quatre's knock. Getting up off the bed, book still in his hand, he cracked opened the door.

"Dorothy!" he called out in surprise, his face displaying his surprise at his nemesis appearing at his door. She stood all alone and dressed in black dress pants and a fuzzy light blue sweater that showed her feminine curves off to perfection.

"What do you want?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing the area around her for a trap of some kind.

"I'd like to talk to you." she answered calmly.

"Don't you think you've had enough tricks for one day, Dorothy?" he asked with equal calm, his eyes automatically drawn to her new eyebrows, frankly surprised that she hadn't altered them in some way since that afternoon.

"No tricks, just talk." she assured him with a slight smile.

"About what?"

"A truce."

Duo looked dubiously at the girl, but nevertheless, moved aside to open the door wider to allow her to enter. He motioned for her to take the chair at his desk and he resettled on the bed, drawing his feet up and crossing his jean covered legs before him.

"Why?" he asked looking doubtful.

Dorothy smiled pleasantly. "I think I'm smart enough to know when I've met my match." she began and then elegantly shrugged. "We could continue this game of one-up-pence, but before long one of us is going to get carried away and someone will really be hurt."

Duo nodded, having come to the same conclusion himself. He felt a small wave of guilt wash over him at the pain he'd caused her that afternoon. "Look, Dorothy. I'm really sorry if that hurt this afternoon. The box really did say it was painless."

"Don't believe everything you hear or read, Shin." she rolled her eyes at his apparent naivete. "Don't you remember them saying your inoculations wouldn't hurt a bit either, or having dental work done?"

He braided boy cringed. She'd mentioned his two least favorite things. "Well, I'm sorry for the botched attempt at your eyebrows." he frowned. "But you really should have held still like I'd said."

"What?" She exclaimed as she wiggled her eyebrows at him. "and ruin this great affect. No way!" she laughed. 

The American's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean you like them like that?" he asked in disbelief.

"No," she shook her head, then smiled the broadest smile he'd seen from her yet. "I love them!" she exclaimed. "They're so....unique. Who else has forked eyebrows?"

"Well,.....um. I think Treize Kushrenada does." He answered, a smile forming on his own face when he realized that the girl across from his was truly happy about her new eyebrows.

"Then I couldn't be in better company." she declared proudly.

Duo's smile grew to match her own and he leaned forward as if conspiratorially speaking. "I like them, too. Who knows, it could be the beginning of a new fashion trend." 

Just for a moment, the two former combatants had a nanosecond of time when they shared a connection. A recognition of two common strengths, different but equal in forcefulness and cunning. They shared a moment of silent, mutual admiration.

"So..., truce?" Dorothy held out her right hand to him.

"Truce." he agreed with a sincere smile as their hands clasped and they shook on it.

"As proof of your word," Dorothy grinned at the boy. "how about giving me the rest of that hair removal gel?"

Two days later, Wufei made his appearance. Upon seeing Quatre waiting attendance on a pretty brunet and Duo the center of male and female admirers, he came to his own conclusion regarding their temporary location.

After joining the two in his new dorm room, he sat back in his chair and relaxed after the day of classes, feeling a familiar ease with the company of the other two who lay sprawled out on his freshly made bed. "So," he began. "pretty typical, boring, upper-class school, right?"

Quatre's eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth as he looked from Wufei to Duo.

"Well," Duo drawled, his eyes bright with humor. "let's just say that after a few very interesting days, we brought his school back to what should now be a typical and boring boarding school."

Wufei's dark eyes searched both boy's faces, seeing an apparently amusing story about to unfold. "Alright." he smiled, taking the bait knowing they really wanted to tell him about what had been going on. "If this story proves entertaining, I'll buy pizza tonight." he promised.

He bought two.

  
  


End

  
  


Ever try Nads? Yeeeeouch!


	6. The Gift

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of GW, nor profit from anything I write.

School Daze: Story 5

The Gift

By Dyna Dee

warnings: fluff

  
  


During the short time he'd been planet side, Heero Yuy had discovered that his education was not as complete as he had once thought. The people he'd encountered during his mission to Earth as a gundam pilot seemed to bring, along with their acquaintance, challenges to his training and, slowly, his perceptions and limited understanding of humanity was changing. He was forced to re-evaluate what he had been taught and how he interacted with those people he'd met.

The first person he'd come face to face with when he came to earth was a girl, Relena Dorilan, and she confused him. He couldn't understand at first why he didn't eliminate her when she discovered what he was. At their first meeting and those few short interludes in which they socially mingled, he'd evaluated her as being a mixture of softness and compassion, things so foreign to his life and training, and yet, she had a spark of stubborn determination that was both irritating and admirable. He was somehow drawn to her, yet at the same time, he was somewhat fearful of her. Not that she posed any danger to him physically, but she was an unknown factor that distracted him, and he couldn't afford to be distracted any further than he was.

He'd had similar conflicting emotions regarding the other gundam pilots. Duo baffled him the most with his humor, his ever-changing moods, and his general upbeat attitude. Though their personalities differed greatly, he found a need for this other boy in his life. He'd rationalized that they both needed a friend....and more than that, a connection had been made between them similar to that of brothers.

The Wing pilot felt an affinity for the other pilots as well. Friendship had grown as their acceptance and faith in each other was built from the ground up. He knew he could rely on them, and they on him. And at the moment, he was relying on two of his friends to help him through another situation for which he'd had no training whatsoever.

He looked up at the long and large brick building in front of him. His eyes narrowed as he took in the perimeter and various doors leading into the building that would provide a quick escape route if the mission went badly. He rubbed his palms against the black dress slacks, designated as part of the school uniforms they all wore as they hadn't had time to change out of them before leaving on this mission. He had been informed that the time needed to accomplish their task was limited. He also realized with a bit of a start that he was nervous, or maybe it was just apprehension. Two emotions he wasn't familiar or comfortable with. With trepidation, he'd accepted the need for the task that had been set out for him to be accomplish. He straightened his spine with determination, his fists clenched resolutely at his side, and his eyes bore into the building as if his will alone would fulfill his mission.

"Man, Heero, chill out." Duo chided as he slapped his best friend on the back. "How are ya ever gonna live to be an old man when you freak out about something like this?" he asked with incredulous amusement.

"I am not freaking out." the Wing pilot replied in a dangerous tone, his eyes shooting daggers at his best friend.

Duo Maxwell rolled his eyes in disbelief and looked to the other side of the stoic pilot to their other friend. "What do you think, Quatre?" Is he freaking?"

"Definitely freaking." the blonde answered with a humorous grin refusing to be squelched on his face.

"Listen, Heero," the braided boy placed his forearm across his friend's tense shoulder and casually leaned against him. "This is not a freakin mission, Heero. You don't have to maim or kill anyone here, self destruct, or blow up anything."

"I know that." the Japanese boy replied through gritted teeth as he gave his friend his best warning glare.

"Then why so tense?" Quatre answered. "We've got everything we need for this venture to be successful." he patted his hip pocket.

The Wing pilot hesitated a moment as he tried to think of words to explain his feelings and actions. "This is....unchartered territory for me." he admitted to the two standing close to him. Both sets of eyes widened slightly before a look of understanding passed between them.

"Wasn't exactly in the training, was it?" Duo guessed. 

Heero nodded. "Only when I practiced search and destroy scenarios. Dr. J would set me loose in such a place and I had to find a particular target in order for my practice mission to succeed."

Quatre's eyes lit up with inspiration. "Can't you see, Heero, that this is exactly the same as your practice drills. We need to search and identify, not a particular person, but an item within specified perimeters."

Heero's intense eyes relaxed slightly at the Sandrock pilot's use of language in redefining his objective. He nodded his head. "Got it." His two companions smiled, showing a measure of relief at his more relaxed stance and attitude. His eyes were less intense, but still held the look of determined purpose, his hands had unclenched and now relaxed by his side.

Duo clapped him on the back once again. "Well, alllllllrighty then." he beamed. "Our objective is something meaningful, yet not extravagant; thoughtful, but not showy."

Heero tensed again. "I have no idea what that is." he admitted a look of near panic reflected in his blue eyes.

"That's why we're here, Heero. We won't let you down at a time like this." Quatre assured him with mock seriousness and a grin as he took hold of the Wing pilot's arm and Duo took hold of the other. Together the two boys moved him forward towards the large glass doors leading into the building.

"You're sure we have to do this?" Heero asked uncertain as the feeling of dread came back to him.

"Yes!" both boys flanking him replied simultaneously.

"Very well." he acquiesced glumly. "Let's just get this over with."

"Geeze, Heero. You act like we're taking you to face a firing squad or something." Duo said with a huff. He looked up to exchange a puzzled look with Quatre as they almost literally dragged the perfect soldier through the doors of the Brussels' Megamall.

  
  


The pilot of Wing knew he was in way over his head only moments after they'd entered the building. Why he chose these two particular boys to help him caused him to question his powers of reasoning. Duo, he had rationalized, loved any kind of shopping establishment. He decided that this was most likely due to his spartan childhood. He always bought items that were unique and interesting, and brought them out to show his friends. His purchases were objects that were fascinating or sentimental. A story of those purchases always followed an explanation of why he'd purchased it and the telling always unveiled another part of Duo's past to him, helping him to understand his friend better. He didn't purchase furiously, but with practiced frugality, giving way extravagance only when need or sentiment prevailed. Heero had thought that surely his friend would be helpful to him on this assignment.

Quatre, on the other hand, had unlimited purchasing power. He was more familiar with this territory than any of the pilots and he'd estimated he would also be valuable on this mission. 'How could I have miscalculated so badly?' he asked himself.

Their objective had been to find a gift for their dates. Relena was once again in attendance at the school they'd been hiding in for the last few weeks. The school's spring social activities included an annual boxed lunch picnic. The girls prepared a special picnic lunch and invited a boy to attend the event with her. The boy, in return, was to present a small gift to his hostess. Evidently, it was a well attended and very popular school event to which Relena had promptly invited him to on the day it had been announced.

He'd had no experience in purchasing a gift for a female, which led him to his present dilemma. Without any knowledge as to what a fifteen year old girl would like to receive as a gift from a boy, he'd turned to the person he thought would be most helpful, Duo. His best friend had, in turn, gone to Quatre, and the two planned this excursion to the mall. Wufei and Trowa had declined accompanying them to the enormous shopping establishment, having managed to dodge any approaching female with a glint of hope in her eyes. He assumed the two had as little experience in this kind of purchasing as he had, so he didn't insist they participate in this torturous excursion.

His two companions had pushed and pulled his reluctant body from one store to another, looking for the perfect gift. Never had he met two people who had such opposite tastes. Duo suggested a music C.D., but no one knew what kind of music Relena liked. Quatre dragged them to a jewelry store only to have Duo's eyes threaten to pop out of his head in horror at the prices. "Too extravagant!" he insisted. Heero knew his face must have shown a blush as the two practiced shoppers led him into an expensive women's lingerie shop. Full-figured manikins were dressed in scanty silk underwear, and racks of multi-colored and printed bras and matching panties crowded the interior of the store. Duo insisted they had nice scented hand lotion there, yet no one was surprised when he didn't pass up the chance to hand Heero a silk lacy thong as a suggestion. The clerks ushered them out quickly as Heero reached forward and wrapped the tiny article of clothing around Duo's neck.

As they visited every store within the unbelievably large complex, the two accompanying him insisted he enjoy the delectable delights a mall like this provided. Within the three hours of their hunting, they eaten hot dogs on a stick with lemonade, pieces of chocolate, ice cream on a stick dipped in chocolate and rolled in roasted nuts, soft buttery pretzels, and large gooey cinnamon rolls along with milk.

"I want go back to the dorms now." Heero moaned after three grueling hours passed. His stomach was filled, miserably so, with foods he was unaccustomed to eating, his feet were sore, and his patience was spent. He looked down at the packages they all held. Duo managed to talk Quatre into buying each of them some clothes and "necessities." The Winner heir, as generous as always, was only too happy to comply. Though how CD's, a back massager, and posters were considered a "necessity" he'd never know.

"You have to make a decision before we leave here, Heero." Quatre explained calmly with seemingly infinite patience. "Tomorrow is the picnic and you need a gift."

"What are you giving your date?" he asked the blonde.

"A box of fine chocolates." Quatre answered.

"Then that's what I'll give." he said and felt like he should slap himself up along side the head for not asking sooner.

"No can do." Duo piped up, earning a glare. 

For some reason unfathomable to the Wing pilot, his friend seemed even cheerier now than when they entered the mall. Heero quickly came to the conclusion that his friend was always happy when he was spending someone else's money.

"We might end up sitting with each other at the picnic and you can't give the same gift.....it'll appear....unoriginal." he explained with a shrug.

"What did you buy?" Heero asked and Duo smiled as he opened one of the three large bags he carried and rummaged around in the bottom for a few moments. His eyes lit up as his hand found what he was looking for. He pulled out a shiny red bag and opened it, taking out a two by five inch, green velvet covered box. Flipping the lid open, he proudly displayed the contents, a gold charm bracelet with a small picnic basket attached.

"Great idea!" Quatre commented, sounding impressed. He then frowned slightly thinking his friend's gift seemed more thoughtful than a box of chocolates. But Duo had insisted that you couldn't go wrong with a box of really good chocolate. By the colonies, they'd sampled enough of the sweet confection to pick out only the best pieces to be carefully placed in the gold box.

Heero's face was neutral as he considered his friends' purchases.

"See?" Duo pointed to the item in his hand. "It's not expensive, it's personal, and something that will evoke a memory of the day she got this long after we're gone." Duo could see the wheels turning in Heero's brain. "Think of what Relena might enjoy, that might help." he offered just before his eyes widened with excitement as he looked over Heero's shoulder. "Look, chocolate chip cookies. Ya gotta have one of those with walnuts." he told his friends, and quickly handed his packages to Quatre and literally bounce off towards the aromatic shop.

Heero took a deep breath and scratched the top of his head. What did he really know about Relena? His mind turned over different descriptions of her that he'd formed over the brief time they'd known of each other. She was smart, attractive, a politician's daughter, and she seemed to want to spend time with him. Heero's mind reviewed all that he'd seen in the many stores they visited in the last three hours when suddenly, an idea came to him.

"Here." he handed his packages to an already overburdened Arabian teen. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Oh,...okay." Quatre answered as he struggled to hold onto the six large packages added to his own three.

Ten minutes later, Heero returned with a plastic bag carefully hidden behind him. Duo handed him a large cookie. It appeared his and Quatre's had already been consumed.

"Whadja get?' he asked, trying to catch a glimpse of the stores name on the white bag hidden carefully behind Heero's back.

"I found something." he answered with no emotion or smile. The sign that a mission was accomplished and their excursion had now officially come to an end.

"Great!" Quatre beamed. "What did you decided on?"

"It's a surprise." Heero gave them a crooked smile.

Duo blinked in confusion. "We told you what we bought." he reminded his roommate, thinking it only fair his friend do the same.

Heero shrugged.

Duo pouted.

Quatre glanced at his watch. "We better get back if we're going to catch a late dinner.

Duo's eyes widened. "That's right, they're having stroganoff tonight. Let's go." He grabbed his three large bags from Quatre then turned to head towards the exit doors to the street.

Heero eyed his retreating friend with disbelief as he stumbled along. "How can you think of eating anything else after all the.......junk food we've just eaten?" he asked struggling to retrieve his shopping bags from Quatre while trying to keep hold of his cookie as both boys quickened their pace to keep up with the energetic American.

Duo looked back, his eyes radiating amazement. "But it's stroganoff, Heero. Beef stroganoff." He reached back to pull at the sleeves of the slower two behind him to hurry them along, his mouth already salivating at the thought of his favorite evening meal.

  
  


The day of the picnic dawned gloriously with a bright blue sky, warm temperatures, and an occasional wispy white cloud that slowly tracked its way across the sky. A perfect day for a picnic. Each pilot met his date at her dorm room and escorted her to the local park where the event was being held.

Heero's calm exterior belied the uneasy feeling he felt inside. He was actually feeling nervous, and on a date. An informal one but, nonetheless, a date. He almost flinched when Relena casually slipped her hand to rest on his upper arm as they strolled towards the park, unused to the feeling of pleasure it sent through him. She smiled warmly at him and carried on most of the one-sided and polite conversation. He wasn't use to talking with girls and was almost relieved when he spotted Duo amongst the crowd of students already gathered together.

Standing next to his friend, who was dressed similarly in casual clothing as he was, in jeans and a white oxford shirt, was a girl he knew had been actively pursuing Duo for the last few weeks. Annika was a petite, vivacious strawberry blonde, "perky" is how Duo described her. She was standing next to him now with her hands wrapped possessively around his arm and her eyes looking up in an adoring manner into his face. Duo, unlike everyone around them, seemed completely unaware of her blatant adoration, either that or he choose to ignore is as you'd have to be blind not to see it, was currently searching the large group of students until his eyes fell on he and Relena. His face nearly burst with a bright grin and motioned them over.

Relena followed Heero's line of sight and saw Duo's invitation. "Would you like to join them?" she asked.

Heero turned to her. "You wouldn't mind?"

She replied with a warm smile. "Not at all."

Returning the smile, Heero led Relena towards the two and noticed the unmistakable blonde hair on top of Quatre's head as he made his way through the crowd towards the same direction. "Just remember we're on a mission and to use our school names." he reminded her.

"Got it." she smiled. It was exciting to be the only person in school to know that the infamous Gundam pilots were right under their noses, and that they were her friends. "Odin, Parish, and Rocky, right?" she repeated their aliases.

Heero nodded.

"But why Rocky?" Relena asked quietly so that no one would hear but her date. "It seems so unlike Quatre. More like the name of a sports jock." she smiled with amusement.

Heero nodded returning the grin. "He wanted to try something new." he replied, sharing her amusement at the name so unlike the blonde Arabian.

Quatre and his date had met up with Duo and his girl just moments before Heero and Relena arrived. They had only a moment to greet each other and their dates before the Principle's voice cut loudly through the crowd with his use of a cheap sound system that squawked and buzzed as he spoke. He gave a short speech to officially start the annual picnic by welcoming the students and announcing that soft drinks could be found at the tables set up by the pond. 

After his speech, the six agreed to picnic together and chose a spot far away from the inner circle of students that crowded together in clumps on the green.

They sat with their dates on separate table cloths the girls provided and ate their lunch together, the boys making sure to flatter their hostess with praises for the wonderful meal they'd prepared. Duo was wiping off the remnants of his most delicious fried chicken on a napkin and watched Quatre, who had finished ahead of him and was pulling out the bag he'd carried and presented the box to his date, Jessica. The brunet gushed over the fine chocolates and after opening the box, shared a piece with each of them. 

Duo brought forward his red bag that he'd been carrying. Annika squealed with delight as she opened the box and discovered what was inside. "Oh Parish, it's perfect." she gushed and held it up for everyone to see, then asked "Parish" to help her put it on. She admired it on her wrist for a moment then threw herself at the braided boy, knocking him back into the lush grass and landing on top of him in a lip lock, trying her best to find his tonsils.

Seeing that the boy on the ground didn't seem to mind the demonstrative act of gratitude, Heero brought forward the white paper bag that held his wrapped gift. He shyly handed it to his date.

Relena took out the light blue foil wrapped gift from the bag and verbally admired the beautiful paper and painstakingly loosened the tape as to not rip it. Setting the perfectly in-tact piece of wrapping paper aside, she held in her hand a wooden box with a checkerboard design on the top and bottom of it, the sides were hinged. She exchanged a curious look with Heero who leaned forward showing her a clasp on the other side. Opening it, she saw a variety or carved wooden pieces and instantly recognized them. "It's a chess set." she looked up slightly puzzled, but offered a gracious smile. "Thank you, Odin. It's very nice."

"Do you know how to play?" he asked.

Relena shook her head as she gazed down at the pieces within the box that she now realized opened up into a chess board. "My father tried to teach me once while we were on a shuttle trip to one of the colonies." she sighed deeply at the memory. "He was interrupted by a phone call and never finished." She picked up the white king and caressed it thoughtfully. "He loved the game," she said more quietly. "just never had time to play it."

Duo, hearing the change of tone in the conversation, sat up, though Annika was still doing her best to distract him. He gently pushed her to the side and put his arm around her shoulder to hold her in place to better observe what was going on between Heero and Relena.

"It's a game of strategy," Heero explained as he looked into her eyes to see the pain the memory had brought her. "and I thought that maybe I could teach you."

Relena's eyes lifted up from the box on her lap, her eyes were bright and her smile dazzling. "Really? You'd take the time to teach me?" she asked almost breathless.

Heero nodded and the two spent a few moments staring into each other's eyes, oblivious of their surroundings or companions.

"Good job with the gift, Odin." Duo's voice called out to end the gazing fest. "He picked that out all by himself Relena." he was happy to inform her.

"It's a wonderful, thoughtful gift." she answered sincerely, her eyes never straying from Heero's face.

The scratchy sound system was turned on once again, and the principal's voice announced the sack race that would begin shortly. Both boy and girl would climb into a large burlap sack and jump together to the finish line. The first couple to pass the line would win tickets to the local movie theater.

Duo's date jumped to her feet and grabbing hold of his hands and pulled him up. "Come on Parish. I know we can win." her green eyes glistened with mischief.

"Yeah right." the long haired boy laughed with his usual good nature as he brushed the grass from off his pants. "I know you just can't wait to get me in the sack."

The air around them froze for a moment at that statement, just before they all burst out into laughter. The girls and boys both blushing as memories were being forged in each of their minds of this day with friends, food, and a few moments when the war seemed to be another world away.

End.


End file.
